The past few weeks have been insanely busy for me, finishing up a Master’s course and just with everything going on in the world I’ve been busy at work too. So, I totally meant to publish this when Maggie actually turned 15 months last week, but that’s ok. Life isn’t perfect.

Here is a quick little update on Maggie & what we’ve been up to this past month:

Chatterbox & other development!

Development wise, Maggie has just been working on honing the skills she already has. So she has become a chatterbox – more words, but also lots of “baby talk” that we can’t quite decipher yet. She definitely knows how to tell us what she wants and her personality is growing and flourishing everyday.

She also has been throwing small balls for the dog (actually throwing – before she’d just drop them!) and standing on her tippy toes and trying to jump but she’s not quite there. She can do up the stairs (crawling) and down the stairs (with something to grab onto).

She is also a great sleeper and good eater (still). She consistently now sleeps from about 730 pm to 7 am on the weekdays and will happily sleep in on the weekends. We didn’t do anything special, so I can’t offer many tips – she just hit a certain point after 12 months where she started to consistently sleep well.

I spoke about our white noise machine in this post, and we also have black out curtains – other than that we do about 30 mins in her room (or 15 if it’s bath night) and she is ready for bed! I am still breastfeeding her right before sleep at night time, but she puts herself to sleep in her crib now.

Activities

Swimming Lessons

Swimming has been our big activity lately. We were lucky to be able to squeeze it in before this third (? I think) lockdown started. Not going to lie – Maggie was not a huge fan of the first lesson. She kept “shivering” even though the water was very warm (I was basically sweating) and she just wasn’t too keen on trying any of the water activities.

Luckily by the second lesson she was much happier and enjoyed almost all of the activities – except the backstroke. I get that girl, I get that. Her third lesson was the best – probably because she did it with her dada who is much more adventurous than mama!

I’m going to be sharing a post in the coming week about swimming lessons and the benefits of them (as well as any additional evidence/recommendations).

Spring means… outside play!

Lots of outdoor time for us. As it warms up, we’ve been getting outside to play as much as possible. Maggie loves the park, but we also play in the backyard. She got a little garden activity centre by Little Tikes (available at Walmart) – her favourite part is the ball shoot! It’s a good toy for 6 months + so if you have a little one you can configure it so you can put them “in” it, and for bigger kiddos you can configure it so it’s open and more accessible.

We also got a wagon from when my husband was a kid, and he did some upgrades on it so it was a bit safer (it’s honestly crazy what our parents used for us sometimes haha!!). She loves to go in the wagon and will sit happily for 30+ min walks in it. She definitely thinks it’s her princess chariot!

I got a little bucket set which is definitely meant for the beach but is also good for play. Maggie likes to dig up the wood chips in our front yard. I got the set from Ikea for like.. 8$? Super good deal – but you could also grab a set at the dollar store (if you’re not in Ontario during a lockdown..).

Spring Clothing Upgrades

We got Maggie a new pair of rain boots (linked similar), a rain jacket (linked similar), and a new brimmed hat for sunny days. I already had a pair of sunglasses for her from Amazon that I got last year that still fit (they say newborn but they’re bigger than that), plus we have a cuter pair from Piper’s Closet (the Elton sunglasses).

We already had a pair of shoes for her put away (gifted at our baby shower) – they’re First Steps and they’re great! I honestly have no idea where they’re from but we love them. I recently got a pair of slip ons for her from Old Navy, but I’m not a huge fan because they’re soft bottom and sort of slippery on certain surfaces. My husband also ordered a pair of Crocs for her (haaaa)… I’ll share those in the 16 month update!

That’s about it for this month! Nothing crazy, just trying to make the best of the lockdown and enjoying another month of growth, development, and fun!