sixteen months

I love it when I get pictures of L that aren't blurry. She doesn't hold still very often. She has gotten a lot faster at walking in the last month. She likes to pick up a shoe, usually hers, so that she can walk around holding it in her hand, or one in each hand. One day she and daddy played fetch with a bottle. It was adorable; she brought him the bottle, he tossed it again, and she went to fetch it. In our front yard, she likes to head for the street as quickly as possible. I'm teaching her that it's not okay to be in the street! 

She enjoys playing -- not very delicately -- the piano when she's on my lap and I'm playing it. She sometimes does the same thing to the keyboard on the laptop, of course, because she sees us typing on it.

L has 12 teeth now that some molars came in; six teeth on top and six on bottom. She loves to eat fresh fruit (and she still likes any food we give her). One day during her 16th month she got very upset because I took away the apple core that she wanted to eat. She isn't a huge fan of cow's milk. She'll drink a little of that or soy milk, and recently we discovered that she and her sister really like rice milk. (I don't know if I had ever tasted it, either, but I think it's yummy.)

Earlier on her monthday we had Mongolian food with Bryan and his little sister and Gordon and Josh M and their wives and kids.

I love that L likes it when we lay her down in her crib. The thumb-sucking could be a hard habit to break, but she only does it right before going to sleep. She usually still has two naps a day, an hour or more each, but sometimes just one longer one. She goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 and sleeps until at least 8:00 a.m. (sometimes as late as 9:30).

I haven't mentioned here that L growls. It's funny. We realized that she got it from me, except I only do it when I'm frustrated, and she seems to do it randomly. I think in the last two or three weeks I have not heard her growl, though. L's main word is Mama. She's clearly said Daddy once or twice, instead of the usual "da" that sounds like "dad" but without the d at the end. For a little while she has mimicked the "moo" sound after one of us does it; her "moo" kind of starts with a b. More recently she started to try saying ball and bye-bye, after I ask her to say it. If I call out her big sister's name she calls out her version of it. L won't say "hi" or "more" or "I love you." She shows excitement when she recognizes someone in a picture by pointing and saying in high pitches, "ah-ah!" In fact, most of her communication is vowel sounds.

I came across a book at the library that I'm considering using because it may help her communicate more. It's called Toddler Sing and Sign. I know our pediatrician says children really start speaking around 18 months or later, so I'm not worried. Sometimes I just don't know why L is upset. Any advice from those who have taught their child(ren) some sign language?