16 Months Old

Wow, our little blessing is 16 months old today. I was trying to remember the details of her birth today and realized that I am just now getting over the shock of it all (it was a very fast birth).

She is such a joy, jabbering up a storm and pointing at everything saying, "That?" or "This?". If she sees something she really likes, she still says, "Oof! Oof!" but it's not her exclusive word anymore. She says things that resemble words and we're working on bunny, cat and dog. If you ask her what a dog says, she say "Oof," so I think we're getting somewhere because she doesn't say it if we ask her what sound a cat makes.

She's becoming really precise and more methodical with the way she touches things and places things. I think she's ready for blocks and large legos, both of which I have tucked away for her. She will pick up stuffed animals and press appendages and tummies until she figures out how to turn it on (and she doesn't realize that not everyone's teddy bears sing).

She gets really excited when I put her down and is almost in a full run at times - which means if she trips she goes down even harder now. For the most part she just bounces back up or acts like, yah, I meant to sit down.

She holds books right side up almost all the time now. For a while there we thought maybe she was going to be left-handed because she would hold a book upside down and turn the pages like she was reading. The reason I had this idea was because my sister (who is left handed) said books were backwards for left handed people.

She isn't in awe of the cow that moves on its own anymore - she will touch it while it's moving.

She still loves to hug her bunnies and does such a nice job petting them. I was hoping this would translate to the real bunnies so I took Philip out the other day since he is more docile than Rebecca. Amelia did so well at first - but then she grabbed him from both ends in one sudden gesture. He did the usual rabbit thing of just hunkering even further into the floor and I quickly removed her hands from him and gently returned him to Rebecca. We'll try again at another time.

The only TV she watches remains the occasional Baby Einstein video which I use on mornings when she is awake while I shower. She is glued to the TV while it's on so I know she'll be safe while I'm out of earshot and eye contact. However, she rather than just passively watching the entire time, she now will laugh occasionally when the dragon does something silly. And she has figured out how to put her hand in the dragon puppet and is amazed!

She has also developed this great giggle which is so much fun. However, she has also developed this almost evil laugh. She will push food out of her mouth or toddle over and bite your leg and then look up and laugh her evil laugh with her eyes sparkling. It is so cute it's hard not to laugh. She especially likes going after daddy's toes when they're up in mid-air thanks to the recliner. I really don't know why she does that - she certainly doesn't share mommy's aversion to feet. Blech is all I say.

She understands everything I tell her and so I've been spending extra time telling her what things are. With her puzzles I'll name the pieces and show her where they go. She can now put many of her puzzle pieces where they belong - even in the 1-10 puzzle. She is really consistent with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. And she's making connections - she recently brought Daddy her stuffed, wind up horse (something she does regularly) and then brought him her horse puzzle piece! I realized the other day that I've spent months talking to her like one of the cats, assuming she doesn't really understand more than two or three words. These last couple of weeks have been really transforming now that I know she understands so much! I really feel like a mommy now. There's just something about this next level of interaction. Perhaps it's the promotion from caretaker to teacher that has done it.

Her newest thing is madly but purposefully bicycling her legs when she is on her back (usually during a diaper change) while simultaneously laughing. It is so cute!

Her hair is really coming in now - it's wispiness is coming down over the tops of her ears (so I smooth it around towards the back) and it's starting to go further down her forehead and neck. Sometimes the back will even have a little curl (I call this carseat hair sometimes.)

She has transitioned from two naps to one long afternoon nap.

She likes moving the chairs around in the kitchen - she must get the furniture rearranging gene from daddy because it's not my thing.

She's trying so hard to eat with a spoon. And when I'm feeding her (or she's helping me feed her) the yo baby yogurt, she gets so excited when she sees the baby on the label. And now when she sees pictures of herself around the house and starts pointing and jabbering in recognition. (It helps that there's an 8x10 in her room of me with her that is close to her eye level, thanks to Tia Polly.)

She has this fake cry now ... SO SOON?!?!?!

She has discovered her belly button and will often lift her shirt looking at her belly. Usually there's a onesie underneath and she just winds up looking at her undershirt-clad belly. Yesterday, though, she just had an undershirt on beneath her dress and was walking around pulling up both the dress and the undershirt. I was afraid that she would do that in nursery at church, but apparently the novelty wore off before church - but she did perform an encore later that afternoon at Livia's house!

I'm sure there's much more - and all things I've meant to blog about by now but with being sick and the usual busy-ness, it just hasn't happened.

(And for the record, there was no 15 month post because we were in KY for a game.)

[pictures dated 1/07]