These days I find it difficult to remember how it was a year ago when Valkyrie was only four months old. Time passes by quickly within the first year. My partner, Shiina, and I always joked about how we couldn’t wait until the days she’d walk and talk. Now we’re here! Continue reading about how our lives have changed with a 16 month old.
I invite you to read Four Months with a Baby and The Second Half of Valkyrie’s First Year!
Naps and Bedtime
As much as we tried to get Valkyrie on a sleeping schedule within her first year, we couldn’t. By the time we’d get a good one going, it’d get interrupted with traveling. We live further from both my family and Shiina’s. We were on the road often to celebrate family events like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and cultural traditions.
While I can’t say I was happy with it, I needed to accept it. I tried to get Valkyrie on a consistent routine and would feel like a failure when I couldn’t. It was tough, but we pushed through it. It was easier to accept it, than allow it to control me.
Now Valkyrie naps once a day, which seems to be at the same time. Yes! Finally, we’re here. She also sleeps well at night.
Individuality
As each day passes, we see how much Valkyrie’s grown as a person. Her personality’s showing and we’re here for it!
We went to the farm to see animals and for backyard activities. There was a mini golf course that she was very fond of because of the golf balls. She’d take them out of the bucket and put them back in. After Shiina finished the course (on his own.. Talk about individuality! Laughs.), we moved onto the sports course. It happened to be across the field. Once we set Valkyrie down on the grass, she quickly turned to head back to the golf course!
First, I didn’t know she recognized her surroundings so well. She eventually made it to the golf course, but it was blocked by a fence. Second, she communicated very well. While she didn’t verbally say where she was going, she said, “Ball,” and pointed to the direction she was heading towards. Finally, she wasn’t upset that she couldn’t get into the golf course. She simply moved on to playing on the playground.
When did our baby girl get so big?!
Sign Language and Speaking
I may be a bit biased, but Valkyrie is so intelligent! She’s always been a quick learner and it’s fascinating to see her grow. She’s been talking quite a lot lately. However, she’s been a talker (like mommy and daddy) since day one! Therefore, it’s not a surprise.
Now she knows how to mimic. She knows how to say simple words or phrases like, “All done,” or “Bubble bubble pop!” She’ll even sing and dance when she’s feeling groovy!
One day we went to the library for a storytime session. We were returning Valkyrie’s nametag to the staff member and I was thanking her for that day. When we walked back to our quilt to collect our items, I noticed Valkyrie was signing “Thank you.” I kept thinking, “Why is she touching her chin?” I thought she was scratching it, so I took a closer look. Nope, she was saying thank you!
I’m continuously stunned by her knowledge and ability to sign. There are still some that she knows, that I don’t know she knows! For instance, Valkyrie loves oranges and when we went to the grocery store, she was signing “more orange,” because she wanted some (laughs)! Such a silly girl.
I feel that sign language was one of the first ways Valkyrie and I communicated. I appreciate it a lot because it’s helped us as first time parents. I remember when Valkyrie was only a few weeks old and I was signing, “All done,” after her bath. Although I had doubts about whether she’d understand, I’m really happy to know now that all the time we spent teaching her sign language is getting somewhere!
Tantrums? You bet.
This is something we’ve just noticed. Since Valkyrie knows a lot more now, like store visits, how to turn the TV on, or where things are in the house, she knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want.
Most of the time, she’s throwing fits because she’s frustrated that she can’t verbally communicate her feelings to us. We do our best to listen to her and understand that it must be harder for her than it is for us. I hope this doesn’t become a habit and that it’s only temporary. Maybe by the time she can speak more words and make sentences, she won’t be as frustrated.
Valkyrie is evolving and that includes her expressions and individuality. She’s learning how to express herself and I can’t fight her in how she chooses to. However, I can control my response to what she does by helping her to recognize her emotions and how to best express it. As parents, we can only guide and support our children to be themselves, however that may be.
Life with Mama and Dada
We still can’t believe we have a daughter! Pregnancy felt like so long ago, but our first year with Valkyrie went by too quickly. We see her face changing everyday and her personality growing all the time. We miss the days when we’d cuddle her closely to sleep. Now she’s a big girl and cuddles us when she chooses to (sob).
Valkyrie requires more attention now more than ever. She’s learning quite a lot in a short amount of time, like words, social skills, technical skills, and more. That means that most of our time is dedicated to her. While it can be tough to get things done, we know it won’t be like this forever.
Shiina and I get our time alone with Valkyrie each week, typically when we’re working. We work opposite shifts Wednesday-Sunday, with Monday as our Family Day, and Tuesday for rest. This schedule makes our days fly by! Once I get home from work, I catch up with Shiina, then spend the rest of the day with Valkyrie. Shiina spends all morning and afternoon with Valkyrie until I get home. Then, we have our family days on Mondays where we spend the entire day together. Tuesdays are the days that we catch up on housework, sleep, and get ready for the week.
On the days that I’m not booked at the spa, I take Valkyrie out. I wish I did more of that throughout the summer. We didn’t get out as much until the end of summer! Now it’s cold.. Any ideas on how to keep a 16 month old busy during the colder months?
Recap
Life with a 16 month old has been nothing, but a blessing! It’s filled with excitement and surprises. We never know what Valkyrie’s up to next, so she keeps us on our toes. Her knowledge and character is growing. She’s becoming her own person.
When other parents say that kids grow up fast, they aren’t kidding! Sometimes I think about what it must’ve been like for these other parents. Suddenly their kids are 18 years old and out of the house! Can Valkyrie stay home forever?
