Vida is about a week away from turning 20 months! Her language development continues to impress me. I know, every mother has a super baby. Well here's some proof:
She can say some 3 word sentences, here are some examples:
1. I see you! If you're playing hide and seek and she spots you.
2. We're home! As we drive into our alley and pull up to our place.
3. There it is! When she has located something we asked for.
She has memorized two songs and sings them on her own.
1. The Wheels on the Bus... (My mom just loves this one.)
This one is not as easily understood until you hear her say, 'round and round'. She sings it spontaneously not on command.
2 Happy Birthday! (Every gathering with multiple people and candles in sight is 'Happy Birthday' time.)
Take Thanksgiving for example: At the table were centerpieces with orange tapers. She was so excited and began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Vida. Blow! Blow!"
Vida has a cousin that's 6 weeks older than her and his mom said he only knew 3 words and simply grunts to have his needs met.
3. She's working on some Mother Goose Nursery rhymes, I think she has them but doesn't sing them all the way through on her own. Favorites include: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (95% memorized), Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Pat a Cake (85% memorized).
She asks to have books read to her one after the other.
I notice this most during the bed time routine: we put the pajamas on, bring the bottle, she inhales it, and says, 'book'. We read one, two, and sometimes three or four books. I am trying to decipher if she has already started to use it as a stall for bedtime or simply enjoys reading for pleasure. There are days where she'll get in a book worm mood in the middle of the day and want to read.
There's one book, she can 'read' on her own:
On each page there's a different doll with a feature that is not 'right'. Example: 'That's not my dolly! Her shoes are too bumpy!' The shoes are textured for touch. As Vida flips through it, you can hear the intonation that I use as I read to her. I may have mentioned this before because she caught me by surprise about two months ago when I overheard her. I am fascinated though because it reminds of when I ask kids to read aloud with an animated voice and to use the punctuation marks. Some kids still sound monotone or their attempts are strained. Reading with intonation can only be learned through modeling.
She engages in storytelling:
There are 3 incidents she re-lives when something trigger her memory, usually an object or keyword.
1. The parakeet incident: While Pablo let the birds spread their wings, they scrambled to the top of the back door when Vida approached. One of them flew away back to the cage as Vida began to move the door. The more docile, tame one, stayed and had a toe smashed in the door frame. With a horrible shriek, Vida let go and ran to the other side of the kitchen, she was traumatized. Her face flush and on the verge of tears from the horrible squaking. Pablo was washing the dishes (awesome Husband, I know) and I came in to check out the commotion. The bird is now inside its cage and bleeding. I attend to Vida and reassure her, Pablo attends to the bird, quickly Googling first aid. Pablo was leaving the next morning for a surprise visit home for his mom's birthday. I took the bird in for a check up (I didn't think it was necessary but these $4 parakeets are his friends). $100 later (an antibiotic and vitamin shot), granted both parakeets had their nails trimmed, he's fine. Every now and then, Vida will comment:
Bird, Door, Sorry
Sorry...was picked up at daycare. If she walks by an object and bumps into it, she tells the it, 'sorry'. Once when I picked her up from daycare, she said, 'Seesaw. Sorry.' She motioned to her head. I am guessing some kid abruptly got off and she fell off.
2. Then there was the Turban squash incident. We selected a turban squash from the pumpkin patch. It was Pablo's idea, it could serve as Vida's own pumpkin, it's a cute size, and it looks like a toadstool. Below is an example:
One morning I was washing out her bottles and she wanted to tell the parakeets good morning. We have a routine where we tell them 'good morning' and pull of the towel that covers them. Well the turban squash was sitting on top of the cage and came down with just a couple of gentle tugs. A 'foot' of the squash landed square on the front right corner of Via's head and knocked her to her butt. It was definitely a slow motion reaction on my part as it unfolded. She summarizes the incident as Pumpkin! Burdies! Sorry! As she pats the part of her forehead that was hit. :-(
I don't want to end on a sad note like that. She has incredible resiliency and spunk. It's hilarious to watch her find tons of amusement in the most basic experiences, like going up and down the back steps or her Little Tikes slide in our living room. The role playing is expanding. She places her stuff animals on chairs and spins them 'round and 'round. She reads with them in her house.
This weekend a new element of entertainment was introduced...Play dough! I have small jars (the party favor ones) in 4 different colors. She loves them all. Daddy has a good time too. He makes her cake, strawberries, and bananas. She likes using tools with it, like a small roller, protractor, and the cases themselves. Beginning in January, she will start attending Music Together classes. I am saving the details of our first demo class for another post. The program is simply amazing! We're taking small steps to prep her for preschool, she could start as early as 4 months from now! Most likely, we're still 10 months away but it's good to present her with similar experiences.