Toddler tantrums and more

RaeRae turned 14 months old on Friday. 14 months! She has been walking for about a month now, and practically running at times! She has such a cute little walk too. She looks like she's walking really fast and her little bum shakes while she has her arms out in the air in front of her and her head up high. If I knew how to put videos on my blog, I'd put one here to show you.

4/6/12: 14 months! Eating out at our favorite place: Chipotle!

She's growing every day. To date, these are the signs she knows:

1. Mama (1-handshape on lower chin)
2. Daddy (1-handshape on forehead)
3. All-done (sticks both arms up in the air)
4. More (1-handshape for right hand and 5-handshape on left hand and makes the movement)
5. Eat (1-handshape on mouth)
6. Milk (uses two hands to sign milk)
7. Baby (5-handshapes for both hands and waves her arms and body like she's rocking a baby, but hands aren't touching)
8. Cat (1-handshape on cheek with right movement)
9. Dog (5-handshape on right leg--she will sign "dog" whenever she sees a dog--whether outside, in a book, a picture, or if we are watching 101 Dalmatians)
10. Bird (looks like she's making the letter "F" but the movement for bird, not on the mouth area but in the air)
11. Duck (same location she signs for bird but with all fingers)
12. Cow (5-handshape in a waving motion over her head)
13. Caterpillar (5-handshape in the air, moving like a caterpillar does)
14. Thank-you (does it slowly)
15. Bed (5-handshape on ear; knows exactly what it means too)
16. Waves bye-bye to mean bye-bye/see you later
17. Some other signs she has copied from us but consistently on her own her: bear, water, car...from what I can remember. She seems to pick up signs each day.

Spoken words she says/knows (from what my husband has told me):

1.  Mama
2. Dada
3. Thank-you ("dank-ooo')
4. Hi (More like "ayeeeeeee")
5. Nana (for my mom)
6. Bapa (for my grandpa)
7. Papa (for my dad; sometimes can sound like Bapa too)
8. Uh-oh

As for behaviors and things she knows,

1. She can squat and stand up from a sitting position
2. The door goes open and shut
3. Caps to my chapstick goes on and off
4. The button on the air filter can be pressed to turn on and off
5. Fake crying to get attention
6. Sticker goes on paper
7. Spoons and forks are for getting food and eating (and also throwing on the floor...oh joy)
8. Knows how to drink water from my water bottle by sucking it up through the straw
9. Baby bottle feeds the baby on its mouth
10. Eggs go in the Easter basket (from recent Easter egg hunts)
11. Knows how to turn the pages to books and signs what she sees in the pictures if she knows the signs
12. Socks and shoes go on the feet (even though she can't put them on herself yet)
13. Toothbrush goes in the mouth (and does not like it one bit, only if she does it herself will she tolerate it)
14.  I'm sure there's more but this list is from what I can clearly think of. 

And of course the biggest one: toddler tantrums!! If I take away something she can't play with or do something she doesn't like, she will throw a huge fit. She will sit down on the floor on purpose, shake her legs, and scream. I'm still learning on what best works for us in these situations. But lately I've just let her cry it out or I will distract her with something else. I'll occasionally tell her something like "I know you want to play with [this object/toy] right now, but it isn't safe. Let's find something else."  What do you do? What works or doesn't work for you when your toddler throws a tantrum?

ALL DONE MAMA! Not so happy.

Hubby and I were talking the other day and I told him, "We took all those classes when I was pregnant on how to take care of a baby, but now we have a toddler. We didn't take any classes for that, so I'd like to research on what's out there that could help us." He agreed. I'm currently about to begin the book "The Happiest Toddler on the Block" by Harvey Karp and Paula Spencer. 


Enjoy these pics of RaeRae from the last month or so!