Well, 3 months after her birthday and magically Elaine is a
walking, talking toddler! Walking is an awesome milestone, especially seeing
her maneuver stairs and little inclines better and better each day. But I’d
have to say seeing her language skills develop is even cooler. At her first
birthday, Elaine could say Mama and Dada, uh-oh, and hot and that was about it.
But now she’s able to use over a dozen words regularly and she’s adding new
words every week at this point! (In no particular order: up, puppy, water,
cheese, hi, bye, ball, meow, no, wee, owie, apple, and a few names of friends
or pictures: Atlas, Rocky). And of course she’s babbling up a storm. Her
babbling had been going since she was a year but of course now she uses lots of
inflection, gestures, whispering and responds to conversation cues from others.
The frustrating part of documenting her language is that she essentially stops
all her talking once she sees the camera. Here are a few examples:
Question, Answer
(This is a very short video. What I love about it is how Elaine's response, although spoken in her own language, is such a clear, precise answer. There are so many examples of this through the day but she shuts up every time she seems the camera! Sign.)
Ladybug, She Creaks Along
(You get a little taste of Elaine's walking skills in this video. We're trying to get Elaine to do little gestures she learned to a song called Ladybug from Music Together. Every time she hears the song she pretends to creep a ladybug up her arm, something she saw in class. Not only that but she knows the ORDER of songs on the CD. She'll start doing the Ladybug gesture before the song starts. Wow!)
Cleaning up the old house.
Daddy being domestic.
Lunchdate with her friend Atlas!
(This is a very short video. What I love about it is how Elaine's response, although spoken in her own language, is such a clear, precise answer. There are so many examples of this through the day but she shuts up every time she seems the camera! Sign.)
She also understands most everything we say. The first time she showed me her
understanding was about 6 weeks ago when I said, “Do you want to go outside?”
and she walked to the back door. Since then, she’s shown her word association
in a whole lot of situations like reading a book, eating in the high chair,
changing diaper, bathtime, finding a ball, putting on shoes and clothes and
many more.
Ladybug, She Creaks Along
(You get a little taste of Elaine's walking skills in this video. We're trying to get Elaine to do little gestures she learned to a song called Ladybug from Music Together. Every time she hears the song she pretends to creep a ladybug up her arm, something she saw in class. Not only that but she knows the ORDER of songs on the CD. She'll start doing the Ladybug gesture before the song starts. Wow!)
One of our favorite moments through the day, and one we WISH
we could capture, is when we put Elaine to bed. Jeremy or I will rock her in
her chair and she’ll have long conversations with us while gesturing to the
window or other parts of her room. It’s such a sweet time for all of us. Another
of Jeremy’s favorite developmental phases is how Elaine whispers with him when
they sneak around the house. She’s also learned to hug and say “awww!” which is
my FAVORITE activity with her. Sometimes she puts her forehead against mine and
we hum together. Of course I want her to stay small and precious forever! But
there are precious ages ahead too!
As I said, Elaine is certainly on the move! Walking,
running, climbing. And she’s getting taller everyday! We know this because she
magically reaches things she didn’t reach the week before, mostly the volume
button on the stereo. Her favorite activities these days are chasing various
balls around the driveway, climbing on rocks, carrying baskets around, filling
and emptying them with whatever she can pick up, playing with and putting on
mommy’s necklaces, and playing with water at any capacity. Of course she also
loves to listen and dance to music or watch Music Together videos. She gets
sturdier on her feet every week! She can manage sliding down the stairs on her
tummy or even step down if she has something to hold on to. Of course these
milestones aren’t without their injuries! She’s had several scratches and
bruises on her face in recent weeks.
As for other milestones, at her 15 month check up she was
still around the 30% for height, 50% for weight and 90% for head size. Growing
brains! She also sprouted her first molar with another one around the corner.
Not fun for sleeping. And her hair is
thickening up with little curls in the back. So cute!
We’re so blessed to have such a smart, funny, beautiful,
sweet, adventurous little girl. We love
her more and more with each passing day.
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