Kate at 15 months: sign language, books and animal sounds

Kate continues to make us laugh every single day. I have not succeeded in keeping any kind of baby book for her, so for now, this blog has become just that. Here are some highlights from the past month -

• At her 15 month check up last week, Kate weighed 23 pounds and was 31 inches tall.

• Kate's use of sign language keeps expanding. Words she signs include: More, bread, cheese, milk, water, boat, monkey, giraffe, duck, bear, elephant, dog, lion, cow (sometimes), help, please, thank you, book, shirt, shoes, socks, hat, car, fish and apple. (I'm probably missing some, but that's the regular rotation.) She would probably sign more if her DVDs had more words that she doesn't already know. New signs this month are duck and boat; she sits in her highchair each night and lets me know when the ferries are going by outside the window by signing boat.

• And now there's some actual vocabulary too: She sometimes calls me "mama" and "dada" for Chris. Here most favorite word is probably "Elmo," which is thanks to a book I bought her in the grocery store of all places. And she became obsessed quickly. She says "wawa" for water, and continues to have her own name for Dill, which is something like "duh." When she signs for cheese, she says something like "sheeze." That one cracks me up nearly every time. It's very close to being right, but is so wrong. She's learning more animal sounds, answering the question, what does an X say? So far, she has "woof," "baa," "neigh," "sss" and sometimes "meow." But she always has the most enthusiasm for "baaaaa." Yup, that one makes me laugh.

• I was never a girly girl, but I worry about my daughter:). Her first full on temper tantrum was last weekend and the cause was that she found my ballet flats in the hallway and wanted to wear them. Only each time she tried to step, her little foot came out of them. She must have tried at least 6 times, the same result. And then came the anger she was inconsolable. I tried to give her my slippers thinking they would stay on and then we tried a pair of her rain boots she had thought were really cool the first time she had tried them on to see if they fit. Nope, she wanted to wear those ballet flats. Solution - Mom must keep all of her shoes in the closet or the rest of us - including Dill - will need ear plugs. And when each of her grandmothers were visiting in September, they each gave her a "purse" to carry around with her. One was a camera case and the other a wallet with a string she could put on her wrist. Well, Kate was pretty proud of herself and pranced around the living room. Speaking of which, she can nearly run.

• Kate is into "cleaning." She'll take a clean rag from the bottom draw in the kitchen and start wiping the fridge or the floor. (Yup, the rag is no longer clean!). And today, when I went to daycare, the rest of the kids were sitting on the rug playing with balls the teachers had gotten out and singing songs. Not Kate. She was off on her own, ball in one hand, and two tissues in the other. I looked at the teachers curiously, and they said, "She wanted tissues to wipe her nose." Well, we watched her wipe her face and then proceed to wipe the kiddie table as if she was cleaning. Oh my, the germs she spread with her "cleaning."

• Speaking of daycare, most of the notes we get are pretty routine...she was happy, had fun, liked art and music and napped and ate well. But today's was a departure that made me laugh: "During naptime, Kate was running around with her blanket on her shoulders and crawling under the table." Uh-oh! Next line: "Kate really likes playing on the police car." I'm still very happy with the variety of things that she does at daycare. I know it was a good day when she comes home in her spare clothes, the first set covered with the day's "art." 

• And to melt your heart, Kate will now give hugs. I get my best one of the day at bedtime, after we've read two stories. I give her a hug, and she'll rest her head on my shoulder. Tonight she left it there for a little bit...so cute. She will give a hug to her baby doll, too. Chris would like her to give out more kisses, but those are still few and far between.

• As far as playtime, her favorite thing right now is really books. She will bring you one after another. Yes, we get tired after the 6th reading of something in one afternoon, but at the same time, it's amazing to watch how much her little brain is absorbing. She points to objects in the books and does the sign. And we also play the game of asking her to point to things that she knows, but doesn't yet know how to say or sign - things like "cat," "bat," "butterfly," etc.

 

Comments

[Mary]

Need to come again as soooo much has happened since sept 20. Mw