Saturday, October 30, 2010

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?

5 comments:

  1. That second picture is great! Something about her being caught in motion and the shadows...

    I finally broke down and taught our lil gal some signs and (dumb mommy) didn't realize that she was actually saying "milk" until recently. I just thought she was saying "bye-bye" a little differently. So I, uh, guess it works!

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  2. You really got some cute pictures of her! I like the one where she is mad though... :) I did signing with J and it seemed to be really helpful for him to give him a way to communicate things that he wanted. He really seemed to enjoy seeing me sign and learning them.

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  3. I taught signs to both Robbie and Audrey, and I really enjoyed it. It was fun for us to feel like we were communicating. Audrey knows about a dozen signs right now, most of which are food or drink, which is very helpful. A tip I'd have about teaching it is to just teach them one at a time, maybe focus on one sign for a few days till she catches on, then add another one. Don't try to teach more than one at a time, it seemed to confuse my kids. I didn't use videos or anything, though I've heard they work, I just did the signs when I was talking about the things I was teaching. Good luck!!

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  4. My 2 oldest have always been ahead in the language department so I never taught them sign, but Tripper is sure taking his sweet time in saying anything so I can understand how that can be difficult. I do know people who have taught their children to sign and their kids seem to speak later because they can communicate in another way. So that might be something to consider too.

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  5. I only taught Brielle Food, More, and Please. She's been doing food since she was 9months, and it's been nice knowing when she is hungry or wants a snack.
    Very cute pics!

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