Taryn...All About Taryn

Taryn is now 17 months old. She has grown and changed so much in the last couple months so I need to jot a few things down. First of all, I took the girls to a dr. appointment at the beginning of April for Keara's well child check up and to get a referral for an allergist for Taryn. Keara weighed in at 26 lbs. and Taryn at 19 lbs. After the appointment, I set up another appointment for Taryn for 2 weeks later for her well child check up. Same doctor, same scale...but she now weighed 21 lbs. And I could tell during those 2 weeks that she had gained a TON of weight! (2 pounds is a lot for a kid!)

At those appointments, my new doctor was frazzled by Keara's small size and encouraged us to test for celiac disease. Because there are 3 cousins with it on my side and 1 aunt with it on Braden's side, plus with our experience with Taryn's food allergies, we thought we'd give it a whirl. We tested both girls. Part of the testing (not for celiac but for other things) included getting a urine sample. Keara happily obliged. But have you ever tried to get a urine sample from a 17 month old? The little baggie they stuck on her DID NOT work. So we tried using the potty.
It was just comical to see Taryn on the potty. But she was a trooper...yet never peed for me. Oh wait, she would once I took her OFF the potty. But not on it. Turns out, neither girl has celiac, which is a great relief to us.

Taryn loves fitting herself in small spaces. Here are a few of her latest.

She also LOVES to read and can often be found throughout the day in a corner with books. I leave a book in her bed so she can look at it when she gets up. As you can imagine, her favorite place to go is the library, though we don't go often enough. She could have you read her a book all day long if you'd do it.

Taryn has also picked up on a lot of words lately. You may not be able to understand her, but we do. Here's her current vocabulary:

Mama

Banana

Apple

Milk

More

Yes/No

Please (mainly in sign)

Thank you (combined with sign)

Book

Fish (combined with sign)

Eat

All done (combined with sign)

Diaper

Bye Bye

Hello

Animal sounds: ruff ruff, meow, moo, quack quack, baa, roar (my personal favorite is Monster: roar...roAR...ROAR!!!!!!)

Tomorrow

I love you

Night night

Grandpa/Grandma

Baby

Belly button

Peekaboo

Shoes

Blanket

Keara

Dada (though it's usually mama for him too)

Those are the words she'll volunteer herself. But she'll repeat almost anything you ask her to, mainly getting the syllables if not the pronunciation. The other day, she said "Hello Carter" to her cousin over the phone when I told her what to say.

She has a mind of her own and will do or will not do whatever she wants. We're really working on getting her to listen and obey when all she wants to do is run the other way saying "NO!" She is loving to help, like throwing away her diapers, putting her clothes in the laundry, and standing with me while I cook.

She is such a great child and is so patient with so many things. We're so grateful to have her bright personality and vitality in our home. She's wonderful!