Some Things I'll want to Remember

Sydney is 14 months old right now. I was telling Rob this morning that Syd got a phone call yesterday from the Vanderbilt University Language Learning Lab inviting her to participate in a research study (she's participated in 2 other studies at the Infant Learning Lab- I'm all about helping students with their research). As we were talking about that, and where she is, language-wise, Rob encouraged me that I need to write and post it all here. This is my journal for our family, after all.
I think Sydney's language is awesome! She signs more than she speaks to communicate, but hey- I don't have a problem with that. That's why we're teaching her to sign. Verbally, she says hi (her most frequent word), dada (her second most frequent word), hey, and bye-bye. We know that she can also say- because she has in the past- but doesn't regularly say mama, book, uh-oh, baby and night-night. She signs, on her own, more, eat, milk, please, thank-you, all done and waves.
She communicates "eat please" when she's hungry. When she's thirsty, she stands at the refrigerator and signs "milk". If we walk into a dark room, she points to the light switch. When we're playing in her room before naptime and she's ready to go to sleep, she'll point to the light switch and then tug on the bumper on her bed. She gets her message across, with or without words.
Her receptive language is also really good- much better than we probably give her credit for. If I ask her if she's tired and wants to go take a nap, she immediately goes to the stairs (same for bath). If I tell her we're going somewhere, she'll pick-up whatever she's playing with and go straight to the back door saying "Bye-bye" all the way there. She can retrieve her cup, baby doll, and some books (by name!) from another room. If we tell her mommy & daddy are leaving, she begins to cry.
She just seems to have come so far in a short time! I don't know that it's anything exceptional for her age, but Rob & I think she's brilliant and we love that our communication with Sydney is no longer one-sided.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

January 17 - Fourteen Months

Sweet Girl-
You're growing up so fast! I cannot believe how quickly the time is passing. You are learning new things every day. Daddy and I are doing all we can to keep up with you and savor every minute. These days are precious, and we know they will be gone all too soon.

Taken January 17, 2011

- Yep, still a tiny firecracker! At the doctor last week, you weighed 18lbs, 4oz (with a wet diaper). We're almost out of 2-3 diapers, so I think we're going to go ahead and promote you to size 3s in a couple of days, but for the record, the 2-3s still fit comfortably.
- Your language is exploding, both expressive and receptive! Daily, I'm surprised when I say something to you and you understand exactly what I'm saying. Verbally, you're not saying a whole lot more, but you're using a lot more sign language the past few weeks. You sign: milk, more, please, eat, all done. When you're hungry, you sign "more please" and go to your highchair!

- You are seriously one of the funniest people I know. You make me laugh every single day, and I love that about you!
- You're just such a social butterfly, and so sweet to everyone. Our friends battle for your affection when they come over, and the girls in our community group "argue" over who GETS to babysit you. Mommy & Daddy's date nights are usually because someone called and asked if they could hang out with you for a while without us-- such a blessing!
- You have started "running". You don't move much faster than your normal pace, but you open your eyes wide, open your mouth, and fling your hands behind you when we ask if you want to run. It's awesome!

- You love to dance. You have a LeapFrog Fridge Farm, but instead of playing with all the animal magnets, you carry the farm around like a boom box and constantly press the button to play music (Daddy loves that you're so into banjo!) Mostly, your dancing is bouncing at the knees as you smile. You also love to twirl, and do it all the time.
- You are a CLIMBER! We have to be really careful where we leave things- everything is a step to you. You've climbed onto your music table, the coffee table, the dishwasher, the ottoman... and when you get up you stand up and proudly look around, as if you're thinking, "I'm on top of the world!"

- One of your current favorite games is "empty Mommy's wallet".

- You're getting more interested in Sesame Street. The only characters you try to name are Elmo ("el-bow") and Ernie ("ee-wie").
- You like to help me empty the dishwasher. I let you do the silverware. You pull each piece out, one at a time, and hand them to me to put in the drawer. It takes so much longer than doing it myself, but I enjoy letting you do it. I think you like to know you're helping mommy.

- You're very sensitive. Daddy telling you No is so much more effective than a spanking or time out. But you also show your tender heart with others: last week I watched you play peek-a-boo with your baby doll in her stroller. When you were done, you sweetly tucked her blanket around her and kissed her before you said "bye-bye" and walked away. It brought tears to my eyes watching you nurture your baby.

- We've got a new morning routine that I love. We go downstairs when you wake up, I fix you a cup of milk, and turn on Sesame Street or Fraggle Rock for you while I sit down to read my Bible. You usually stand around for a minute or two, and then come pat the couch next to me, asking me to pull you up. Then you snuggle up under my arm and relax until I'm done and get up to fix breakfast.

Syd, you got a CD for your birthday, and there's a song on it called "My Baby Loves to Dance" and every time I hear it, I think it was written just for us... My baby loves to dance, she loves to spin around, she's only two feet tall, but I don't mind at all, she hears a song in every little sound... And my baby loves to move, she rests upon my chest, she doesn't stay for long, a moment- then she's gone, she's off to find another heart to bless...

Bless my heart, you do, Baby Girl. I love you so much more than I can say, and I thank God every day that I get to be your mommy.

Love,   mommy