Latest Words

Grace is expanding her vocabulary to include:

• kitty
• cold
• shoes
• socks
• eggs (pronounced "ah"ggs)
• house (pronounced "haas")

There are likely more that I am not thinking of. She also howls when I show her a wolf toy that came with a Three Little Pigs set. And whenever someone says the words "scare" or "scary," she will say, "Boo!"

Today she also helped mommy cook. As I was making an egg scramble, Grace helped add the cheese. She also stirred it up a little. I can't wait to get her a play kitchen! She would love it! Anyone know of a cool one, especially one that makes sounds?

Mark This Day in History

Today is one for the history books, for today Grace has learned to say NO. This morning as she was having breakfast, she started saying "no,no,no,no,no..." and has been practicing ever since! She says it with flourish and the word is well-articulated. She has also been practicing her scowl face and fingerpointing.

On top of it all, Grace has been having a ROUGH time (and so, naturally, have mommy and daddy) presumably because she is teething. She has one new tooth breaking the surface up top...and her gums in general look a bit swollen, so I am not sure how many might be on the way or which ones.

Oops, gotta go...she's crying again. Poor nugget. (Poor mommy.)

15 month checkup

Grace had a doctor visit today. I always dread taking her..and this time I did it solo. She handled it pretty well at first. She only started to cry when she got on the scale. During previous visits, she would go into hysterics as soon as we entered the exam room. Overall, it wasn't as traumatizing (for mom) as it has been the past couple of times!

The doctor asked about Grace's development...is she walking? running? talking? Grace is walking...not quite running...and definitely talking. The doctor asked how many words Grace can say. I was trying to guess the number (I was thinking it's close to 20, was sure it was over 10)--as I pondered the number, the doctor said, "At her age, I would expect her to say about 3 words." Well.

So it got me thinking...how many words can Grace say now? Here's a list of what I can think of at the moment...I may forget a few. Note, I am only including those that are consistently well-articulated and used in appropriate context.

(in no particular order)

1. uh-oh

2. mama

3. daddy

4. up

5. bottle

6. ball

7. this

8. hot

9. hat

10. cat

11. moo

12. boo

13. woof

14. cheese

15. clock

16. teeth

17. eyes

18. hi

19. bye bye (though this can sound like buh buh)

Hmmm...I feel like there are more, but I can't recall them at the moment.

A few anecdotes:

• Grace enjoys reading Goodnight, Gorilla. On the last page a little mouse says "Goodnight, Gorilla." The gorilla responds with "Zzzz." When I read it to Grace, I act out the sleep part by laying my head to the side and snoring. Grace mimics this by laying her head to the side too.
• Today Grace was reaching for a sharp object. I told her, "No" and pointed a finger. She spent the next five minutes practicing pointing her finger at me and trying to say "No"--she only managed a "Nah" sound. Note to self, limit fingerpointing.
• Grace loves being scared/startled. A common game we play is that I pretend to not notice her, then I suddenly turn upon her and say "Boo!" Sometimes she jumps if I really sneak up on her. But she giggles hysterically every time. This game doesn't seem to grow old.
• I hum a superhero song as I have Grace "fly" through the air. When I hum the song while holding her, she automatically assumes the superhero position in my arms (leans over so she can "fly" parallel with the ground).

What an awesome kid right?