-She's talking a lot. She's saying words that I didn't even know she'd been taught. I was wearing a t-shirt that had an emblem of a tree on the front (shout out to my CHS alma mater!), and she looked, pointed and said "tee" for tree. Then the next day we were walking into school and she was looking up and pointing to the trees lining the walk and said "tee" again. Didn't know she'd picked up on that one! She says oosh for shoe, ouwww when she gets hurt (or thinks she has), choo choo for train, bow, pretty, cheese, and please. She has been attempting lots of 2-3 syllable words this month and some are-grandpa, cracker, pineapple (pie-ahh). She will attempt most of what you ask her to repeat. She also has been putting 2-3 words together and some are: hi mama, hi dada, up please (bup peas), volunteered to try and "say thank you cracker" after I gave her a cracker in her car seat. After the grocery store one day a worker was taking our cart for us, and she waved and said, "bye! thank you!" I thought this was so smart and friendly!:)
-She's doing great at school and all the adults tell me how friendly she is when they see her. She gets strolled around the halls, and evidently she waves and says "hi!" to everyone she sees. She continues to love babies, and especially her buddy Owen at school. If we are there first and he comes in, she high tails it over to her saying, "baby! baby!" the whole time and pulls up on his stroller to see him. It's cute she has a baby friend-he's just 6 months younger than her and weighs more than he does, but she definitely thinks of him as a baby! She has been using the little slide at school, and I've gotten to see her climb up the ladder all by herself and slide down, then plop on the carpet. She looks so big doing this! And she loves it-all smiles and claps! They sing and read a lot at school, and she's evidently a big fan of "itsy bitsy spider". She's so cute trying to do the motions. She "sings" along and also sings with us at night when we put her to sleep in her own way.
-She's a good eater and has really been using her fork a lot this month. Sometimes when she's lost interest in her food I can give her a fork and she will get busy! She can spear her food and feed herself like a pro. And she's so proud about it!:) She's a strong righty just like Henry was a strong lefty at this stage.
-She only uses her paci for sleep. We keep it in her crib. Last month as soon as I picked her up, I'd take it out and toss it in the middle of her bed with her blankie. This month, she has voluntarily taken that responsibility on herself, and it is so cute to watch her take it out, then toss it in. And it is also cute when she teases me and will take it out, and hold onto it when I tell her to throw it, then stick it back into her mouth and giggle. She gives it up pretty easily after that, but she does good naturedly let me know she'd really kinda rather keep it. :) Oh, and she calls her paci her "pass" right now.
-She is a very loving little thing, and is always giving us hugs and showing love. She loves to "waller" on people on the floor (us, her teachers, her friends, Maggie, etc). She lays her head down and says, "awe". She also loves to fall backwards and will do this over and over once she gets going, so we have to watch her because sometimes she doesn't watch were she's going to land! Sometimes she gets really wild and will flop all over the place and play "rowdy"-usually when Steven is on the floor and Henry is getting rowdy, too.
-She's getting more and more mobile! Mid-month she started pushing the walker/baby carriage around reluctantly. Steven got her interested by putting an actual (toy) baby in there. Now it's the end of the month and she pushes it all over the house and re-adjusts it when she runs into stuff and gets stuck. She and Henry will "race" around the living room and through the kitchen. She's adorable and I can get flash forwards of the 2 of them playing like big kids together. She also stands up on her own-randomly without really thinking about it I don't think. She will now stand for a long time and even clap and dance without any support. I think we are close to having a walker. She will now more willingly let us hold her hands and walk around.
-This has been a month of football, so Steven has taught her to say, "Go, Vols!" while moving her hands around and around while saying "go", then throwing them up in the air for "Vols"...not sure if I'm explaining it clearly, but it's certainly cute to watch, and she's awfully proud and all smiles when she cheers.
