Thom shares his banaba blueberry oatmeal with Audrey.
12 August 2011
02 August 2011
Reading
Kim takes Aaron to storytime at our local Barnes & Noble and one day they picked up a form for their summer reading program. Kids read 8 books, record them on the form and then they get a free book (one of about 18 pre-selected children's books). They had picked up the form last month and then we'd forgotten about it and lost the form. But last weekend, Aaron suddenly remembered and when they went last week, they picked up another form.
That was Thursday. On Friday, Aaron was so excited, he read 2 books to me before we did preschool at 10am. I wrote them on the form for him. He was so excited. He carried his entry form around all morning, showing it to the kids and moms who came over for preschool. He carried it outside when we went to look at trees (our preschool theme). The form was getting pretty wrinkled.
After nap time, he read a few more. He did a great job of picking out books that he could read almost all on his own. Mostly board books, but not all. Sometimes he needed help with words. He wanted to keep reading but we had to go to the grocery story. We actually had to fight with him over it. When we left for the store, he had 3 books to go. He read 2 more to me after we got back while I prepared dinner. Then he read the last one at storytime before bed.
There was another storytime at B&N on Saturday so I decided to take him to reward him for doing such a great job reading all 8 books in one day. But first I made a photcopy of the filled in book journal because he seemed so proud of it and I knew we'd have to hand it in. The woman at B&N who does storytime on Saturday was the same one who does it on Thursdays so she knows Aaron well. (We'd also been the previous Saturday.) He was excited to show her the list and then she showed him the display of books from which he could choose.
He picked one called Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig. (Mercy actually is a pig). The story is just OK in my opinion, but Aaron loves that book. It's his free book that he got for reading 8 books. It has 15 chapters (about 3 pages each with pictures). He's so excited that it has chapters and that it has 15 of them. If you forget to say the chapter and number when you are reading, he'll remind you. He has been carrying his book around. Yesterday we even took it to the library to show our friends we were meeting there.
This is the most excited Aaron has been about reading books. We have 3 different library systems near us and they all have summer reading programs. Even though they only award small prizes and not books, I thought about signing him up. But sadly one just ended and the others end very early August so I don't think we'll get signed up in time. As a lover of books and avid reader, I couldn't be more proud of him. I hope he continues to love reading.
That was Thursday. On Friday, Aaron was so excited, he read 2 books to me before we did preschool at 10am. I wrote them on the form for him. He was so excited. He carried his entry form around all morning, showing it to the kids and moms who came over for preschool. He carried it outside when we went to look at trees (our preschool theme). The form was getting pretty wrinkled.
After nap time, he read a few more. He did a great job of picking out books that he could read almost all on his own. Mostly board books, but not all. Sometimes he needed help with words. He wanted to keep reading but we had to go to the grocery story. We actually had to fight with him over it. When we left for the store, he had 3 books to go. He read 2 more to me after we got back while I prepared dinner. Then he read the last one at storytime before bed.
There was another storytime at B&N on Saturday so I decided to take him to reward him for doing such a great job reading all 8 books in one day. But first I made a photcopy of the filled in book journal because he seemed so proud of it and I knew we'd have to hand it in. The woman at B&N who does storytime on Saturday was the same one who does it on Thursdays so she knows Aaron well. (We'd also been the previous Saturday.) He was excited to show her the list and then she showed him the display of books from which he could choose.
He picked one called Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig. (Mercy actually is a pig). The story is just OK in my opinion, but Aaron loves that book. It's his free book that he got for reading 8 books. It has 15 chapters (about 3 pages each with pictures). He's so excited that it has chapters and that it has 15 of them. If you forget to say the chapter and number when you are reading, he'll remind you. He has been carrying his book around. Yesterday we even took it to the library to show our friends we were meeting there.
This is the most excited Aaron has been about reading books. We have 3 different library systems near us and they all have summer reading programs. Even though they only award small prizes and not books, I thought about signing him up. But sadly one just ended and the others end very early August so I don't think we'll get signed up in time. As a lover of books and avid reader, I couldn't be more proud of him. I hope he continues to love reading.
21 July 2011
July
OK, I guess I'm long overdue for an update.
Audrey
Audrey's hair is now long enough for ponytails. The first time I tried it (pictured above) she wanted them out within 5 minutes. Now she asks for them in the morning. As soon as I'm done, she runs to the mirror and looks at herself.
She's very particular about what she wears, too. Or at least about having control over what she wears. It's very hard to pick something out for her anymore. She's just as happy picking out drab hand-me-downs from Aaron as she is about picking out girly hand-me-downs from family and friends. And she loves shoes, but isn't specific about whose. She sees shoes, she wants to wear them and walk around.
She is also obsessed with books! That's my girl. She piles up a stack of books and sits on the floor in the play area and goes through the books by herself. If she knows the title, (like one called Wow! Babies!), she will repeat the title as she pages through the books. "Wow babies." Turn page. "Wow babies". Turn page. "Wow babies." This is more likely when I'm not in the room or in the afternoon after nap time. First thing in the morning, she tries to get me to read to her.
She's teething all the time. She's got the top 4 front teeth and the bottom 4 front teeth. But next to those she has spaces followed by molars (so 4 molars total). The spaces are starting to fill in. Her favorite thing to alleviate teething pain is to chew on a wet washcloth. She calls it a "chew". She goes to the bathroom where we keep a basket of kids washcloths, pulls one out and climbs up on the step stool to try to get it wet. I try to intervene so that she only gets a corner of it wet. Then she'll go play with it hanging out of her mouth. We find old chews on the floor all the time. She tends to go through a couple a day if we don't manage to stop her.
Aaron
Aaron is such a big boy now. He's reading pretty consistently. If you remember, he read his first simple book just before turning 3. We'd try to get him to read words here and there at story time before bed, but he more often than not didn't want to and we didn't push it. But sometime after turning 4, he started reading parts of the stories and then picking out beginner books that he could read. Some nights he has read all of his bedtime stories. When we are out, he'll point out words on signs. With his penchant for numbers, he enjoys reading exit signs on the freeway. "There's Exit 18, Mama!"
He still loves music, too. There is a folk group that we catch once a month when they play in the morning. They have guitars, a stand-up bass (his favorite), a mandolin (his other favorite) and sometimes a banjo or other instruments. And there is another band that plays at coffee houses in the afternoons that we are usually able to catch once a month. They have a CD and we now own two copies. I bought the first copy after we saw them the second time. I enjoy their music as much as Aaron. Then the 3rd time we saw them, a couple was watching them for the first time and were so enthralled by how interested Aaron was in the music, they bought him a copy. (I think the fact that Aaron requested a song by name impressed them, too. It's instrumental music - no lyrics.) The back of the CD case lists the tracks and the time of each track and Aaron quickly memorized that info. He knows how many minutes and seconds each song is and what the track number is. That kid likes numbers.
I've been doing an hour long preschool program with Aaron and including other kids. At first a friend and I were doing it at our houses on my morning off or in the afternoon, but then her parents paid for her older son to go to preschool twice a week and she's having baby #3 next month so we gradually lost momentum. But Aaron really enjoyed it. He started drawing with crayons more, something he never really wanted to do. And he started trying to write numbers and letters. And he'd ask about preschool when we didn't do it. So this summer, I started doing it on my own. I tried doing it at a park, but there were a lot of little bugs that annoyed Aaron, so now we are doing it at home. We've had different friends join us each week. There's too much going on in the summer for the other kids. But I'm hoping we find a few families that want to join us consistently. I'd like to keep this up until he goes to Kindergarten next year. And at that point, I hope Audrey is enjoying it and I will keep doing it with her. Right now, she listens to the story and colors during the craft project, but mostly she kind of wanders around and plays with stuff.
Oh, I taught Aaron how to play chess a couple of months ago. I set up the chess board after nap time one day and told him the names of all the pieces and how they moved. An hour or so later when I was making dinner, he wanted to play again. I said I couldn't right then, but maybe later. While I was in the kitchen, he set all the chess pieces back in the correct place. He seems to like the game, but doesn't have any strategy. And by that, I mean he doesn't try to get his opponent's pieces. He just likes to move the pieces. I tried to take him to chess club at the library a couple of times, but he's not quite ready. They expect kids to play quietly and focus on the game and at 4, Aaron's not ready to do that. I thought it would help him learn the game. So for now, we just play at home sometimes.
Or at my parents house. As you see in the picture up above, my parents have this awesome chess set with oversize pieces. My mom made the ceramic pieces about 40 years ago when we lived in Ohio but had never finished them. My dad came across them in their shed a month or so ago. They had them fired and my dad built a custom chess board for them. Aaron loved it. The hard part was keeping Audrey away from the pieces.
 |
| First attempt at ponytails |
 |
| Aaron playing chess with Grandpa |
Audrey
Audrey's hair is now long enough for ponytails. The first time I tried it (pictured above) she wanted them out within 5 minutes. Now she asks for them in the morning. As soon as I'm done, she runs to the mirror and looks at herself.
She's very particular about what she wears, too. Or at least about having control over what she wears. It's very hard to pick something out for her anymore. She's just as happy picking out drab hand-me-downs from Aaron as she is about picking out girly hand-me-downs from family and friends. And she loves shoes, but isn't specific about whose. She sees shoes, she wants to wear them and walk around.
She is also obsessed with books! That's my girl. She piles up a stack of books and sits on the floor in the play area and goes through the books by herself. If she knows the title, (like one called Wow! Babies!), she will repeat the title as she pages through the books. "Wow babies." Turn page. "Wow babies". Turn page. "Wow babies." This is more likely when I'm not in the room or in the afternoon after nap time. First thing in the morning, she tries to get me to read to her.
She's teething all the time. She's got the top 4 front teeth and the bottom 4 front teeth. But next to those she has spaces followed by molars (so 4 molars total). The spaces are starting to fill in. Her favorite thing to alleviate teething pain is to chew on a wet washcloth. She calls it a "chew". She goes to the bathroom where we keep a basket of kids washcloths, pulls one out and climbs up on the step stool to try to get it wet. I try to intervene so that she only gets a corner of it wet. Then she'll go play with it hanging out of her mouth. We find old chews on the floor all the time. She tends to go through a couple a day if we don't manage to stop her.
Aaron
Aaron is such a big boy now. He's reading pretty consistently. If you remember, he read his first simple book just before turning 3. We'd try to get him to read words here and there at story time before bed, but he more often than not didn't want to and we didn't push it. But sometime after turning 4, he started reading parts of the stories and then picking out beginner books that he could read. Some nights he has read all of his bedtime stories. When we are out, he'll point out words on signs. With his penchant for numbers, he enjoys reading exit signs on the freeway. "There's Exit 18, Mama!"
He still loves music, too. There is a folk group that we catch once a month when they play in the morning. They have guitars, a stand-up bass (his favorite), a mandolin (his other favorite) and sometimes a banjo or other instruments. And there is another band that plays at coffee houses in the afternoons that we are usually able to catch once a month. They have a CD and we now own two copies. I bought the first copy after we saw them the second time. I enjoy their music as much as Aaron. Then the 3rd time we saw them, a couple was watching them for the first time and were so enthralled by how interested Aaron was in the music, they bought him a copy. (I think the fact that Aaron requested a song by name impressed them, too. It's instrumental music - no lyrics.) The back of the CD case lists the tracks and the time of each track and Aaron quickly memorized that info. He knows how many minutes and seconds each song is and what the track number is. That kid likes numbers.
I've been doing an hour long preschool program with Aaron and including other kids. At first a friend and I were doing it at our houses on my morning off or in the afternoon, but then her parents paid for her older son to go to preschool twice a week and she's having baby #3 next month so we gradually lost momentum. But Aaron really enjoyed it. He started drawing with crayons more, something he never really wanted to do. And he started trying to write numbers and letters. And he'd ask about preschool when we didn't do it. So this summer, I started doing it on my own. I tried doing it at a park, but there were a lot of little bugs that annoyed Aaron, so now we are doing it at home. We've had different friends join us each week. There's too much going on in the summer for the other kids. But I'm hoping we find a few families that want to join us consistently. I'd like to keep this up until he goes to Kindergarten next year. And at that point, I hope Audrey is enjoying it and I will keep doing it with her. Right now, she listens to the story and colors during the craft project, but mostly she kind of wanders around and plays with stuff.
Oh, I taught Aaron how to play chess a couple of months ago. I set up the chess board after nap time one day and told him the names of all the pieces and how they moved. An hour or so later when I was making dinner, he wanted to play again. I said I couldn't right then, but maybe later. While I was in the kitchen, he set all the chess pieces back in the correct place. He seems to like the game, but doesn't have any strategy. And by that, I mean he doesn't try to get his opponent's pieces. He just likes to move the pieces. I tried to take him to chess club at the library a couple of times, but he's not quite ready. They expect kids to play quietly and focus on the game and at 4, Aaron's not ready to do that. I thought it would help him learn the game. So for now, we just play at home sometimes.
Or at my parents house. As you see in the picture up above, my parents have this awesome chess set with oversize pieces. My mom made the ceramic pieces about 40 years ago when we lived in Ohio but had never finished them. My dad came across them in their shed a month or so ago. They had them fired and my dad built a custom chess board for them. Aaron loved it. The hard part was keeping Audrey away from the pieces.
15 May 2011
Piano!
Aaron turns 4!
Aaron turned 4 last month. We didn't do a party this year, but there were many celebrations. We went out to lunch the day before his birthday with Grandma and Grandpa. On his birthday we took him out to lunch at In N Out Burger, which was his choice. We surprised him by inviting another family to join us, our friends Mark and Jill and their two kids. And we brought a trifle cake from home.
And that afternoon, I took him to see a local band he enjoys that was playing at a coffee shop. And best of all, that evening, Auntie Lia and Uncle George joined us for dinner. Auntie Lia cut Aaron's hair and Audrey's bangs. Auntie Lia had come and cut Aaron's hair a while back and Aaron said several times that he wanted her to come back and cut his hair on his birthday. And she was happy to oblige. He had a great birthday weekend.
A few weeks after his birthday, we had his 4 year checkup. He was a little over 40 lbs and a little over 40". He didn't get his booster shots that day because he'd been having a fever. He had a fever for 5 days for no apparent reason. Mostly just in the afternoons. In the mornings, it was generally between 99-100, but it would shoot up over 101 in the afternoons. One day it went up so fast, by the time I was ready to give him Tylenol it was over 104 (I wanted to give it to him over 103 but missed it). I had to force him to take the Tylenol even with a bribe of cookies, but after a dose and a cool bath, his fever was down under 102. It was apparently some unnamed virus and other than a slightly runny nose and being more tired than usual, he seemed perfectly fine.
At four, Aaron is reading more regularly, pointing out words when we are out and about. He often reads one of his bedtime stories now. Also, since his pullups have been dry in the morning, he now has the option to wear underwear at night. So far he's been going back and forth between pullups and underwear. He only had one accident and that was when he had the fever. Around the time of the fever there were a few nights when he woke up to pee, but other than that time, he's pretty much sleeping through the night.
Another big change happened around the time he turned 4. For about 3 years, he had oatmeal for breakfast every morning. Usually with a banana, sometimes with blueberries. But for weeks he was eating really slow and goofing off with his sister at breakfast instead of eating. It was an hour long battle to get him to finish his oatmeal that he used to eat willingly. Finally we decided to stop doing oatmeal. Now he eats cereal with milk, picking out a different cereal each morning. Sometimes shredded wheat squares (Autumn Wheat), sometimes Kashi's Heart to Heart, or Puffins. And he eats it quickly, without us having to remind him to eat his breakfast. The end of oatmeal in the mornings felt like the end of an era in our household. I thought he'd eat oatmeal every day until he left for college.
For some reason, we've been having more melt-downs and time-outs with him. Baths and hair washing have become a struggle with him and he often doesn't listen to us. He's always been a rule follower so we've had it pretty easy. But suddenly he's trying to circumvent the rules or outright lies to us. Or he'll pull an Oliver North and say he can't remember if he hit his sister - 2 seconds after it happened.
Despite some of the problems of acting out with his sister, he is actually a very good brother. He often asks her questions (like "Is it Monday, Audrey?") and then tells her the answer if she doesn't know. Or he'll tell her things (like "Look, Audrey, there's a bunny.") I think it helps her to learn. And he also tries to distract her with a change in conversation when she's crying or upset. Sometimes it gets annoying because she'll be crying and he's yelling over her trying to cheer her up, but it's very sweet.
31 March 2011
Audrey at 18 months
And now that she is sleeping well (she is also down to one approx 2 hour nap a day) she is nursing less. After I cut out the night-time feedings (within the last month), I still nursed her when she got up in the morning. But now we don't do that, either, since she stopped asking. She usually still wants to nurse in the afternoon and before bed, but I think those will gradually go away now.
And because she is nursing less, she is eating more. She now eats the same oatmeal Aaron has for breakfast, although only a tiny fraction. This is a big improvement over the first time I introduced oatmeal to her and she gagged on it. She used to only eat crunchy snacks - cereal, crackers, chips, freeze dried fruit. But she is gradually eating more and more. Including yogurt, sandwiches, grapes, apple slices, cheese. Stuff seems to taste better to her if it comes from Aaron's plate/bowl.
At her 18 month checkup, she weighed just 20 lbs 8 oz. 20 lbs is the minimum to put her in a forward facing car seat, but the new recommendations are to keep them rear-facing until 2 years, so we will probably do that. She was down to the 5th percentile for weight. The pediatrician didn't seem too concerned since she is otherwise healthy and weight gain tends to slow down at this age.
Since she said her first word at 9 months, she was definitely ahead of Aaron on vocabularly. I kept a spreadsheet list of the words Aaron knew at 2 years (a partial list is here). I opened it up and created a new sheet with Audrey's words by 18 months. Both lists were just under 180 words, but given that I forgot some, I'd say Aaron had about 200 words at age 2 and Audrey had about the same at 18 months. Makes sense since she started talking 6 months sooner than he did. Here is Audrey's list of words (she's added many, many more in the weeks since she turned 18 months - it's scary how fast she picks up new words):
hi
baby
Papa
Mama
Grandma
brother
Aaron
Audrey
Kim
Madeleine
boy
girl
ball
chicken
buddies
doggie
puppy
kitty
pig
sheep
horse
cow
bear
bunny
rhino
giraffe
duck
bird
monkey
penguin
alien
hat
shirt
sock
shoes
jammies
pants
jacket
hood
button
zipper
car
truck
train
star
bye
please
help
hug
kiss
yeah
ok
no
yeah
play
sit
off
done
go
more
again
away
table
door
paper
phone
book
hamper
cup
bowl
plate
milk
juice
food
waffle
grapes
apple
orange
pear
carrot
pea
green bean
cheese
chip
cracker
pretzel
bread
joe's o's
turkey
pizza
pasta
fun
open
up
down
in
out
buckle
cold
hot
on
off
clap
poop
pee
toot
bath
potty
flush
eye
nose
face
hair
ears
mouth
tongue
cheek
belly button
teeth
toes
arm
leg
hand
finger
foot
knee
head
tummy
neck
necklace
color
blue
pink
purple
red
two
nine
wagon
sack
bubble
night night
pillow
wet
water
walk
piano
guitar
drum
clock
move
crib
bed
chair
hop hop
cute
mirror
comb
dry
boogies
lap
tower
couch
push
dirty
clean
blanket
flower
timer
bow
work
home
this
that
drawer
clip
cupboard
did it
job (as in good job)
earthquake
(Earthquake is a game I play with her. She doesn't know the real meaning.)
Although she says a few colors, she doesn't really seem to know which colors are which yet. She also knows more instrument words than Aaron did at 2 since she picks them up from him. As far as speech goes, she's been pretty stereotypical for a girl, I guess, speaking much earlier than Aaron. She is not quite stringing words into sentences, but she is close. She'll say things like "Papa. Work." Meaning: I don't see Papa. He must be at work.
She is also trying to potty train. She's not really ready in my opinion, but I don't want to discourage her. She knows when she has to go and I'll put her on the potty. A little more than 50% of the time she will pee when I put her on. There have been mornings where her diaper or pullup (I alternate between them) stays dry because she is telling me she needs to go potty and waiting to be put on the toilet. She can't quite get her pants down by herself and she's too small to get on the potty by herself, but she is so interested in doing it. She cries if I don't let her have some toilet paper (which she doesn't get unless she really goes potty). And she loves trying to flush the potty and then climbs up the step stool to wash her paws. She wants to be just like big brother.
I'll try to post an update on Aaron soon. I can't believe he is almost 4.
13 December 2010
15 Months
Audrey turned 15 months on Friday. We haven't had her 15 month checkup so I don't have her stats yet, but I wanted to jot down a few of her accomplishments at 15 months before I forget.
Aaron's first word - Mama - was on his 15 month birthday so it is interesting to see how many words Audrey has at 15 months. Her first word was "Hi" and her most recent word that I can recall is "mouth". Here is list of words I have heard her use correctly more than a few times. She often will repeat a word after I say it but won't say it again and I haven't included those here.
hi
baby
bye-bye (usually said after the person has walked away)
mama (generally repeated multiple times in increasing intensity)
papa (usually whispered as if in awe)
more (accompanied by the sign for more for added emphasis)
uppa (for up - we taught her Aaron's original version of this word)
hop-hop (for the motion as well as bunny crackers)
Babu (Aaron's early nickname for Larissa which we taught Audrey)
bear
gate
boop (what you say when you touch someone's nose)
beep (what you say when you pinch your nose between your thumb and forefinger)
cheese
milk
doggy
eye
ear
mouth
hat
I think she has a few other unintelligible words including something that is supposed to be 'brother'. The phrase "I nee" is repeated loudly and with great emphasis to indicate she wants something to which she is pointing. She also calls the wagon "oggy" although I have no idea why. It's usually when she sees it and she'll yell "Oggy! Oggy! Oggy!" because she wants to push it around. And although not technically a word, if you ask her what a sheep says, she'll say "Baa". Cows say "mmmm". And lions, tigers (including Tigger), and bears elicit a growl. Oddly, 'no' is not a part of her vocabulary yet, although she has started to shake her head when I offer her something to eat that she doesn't want.
Oh, that's another thing. Some time between 14 and 15 months, Audrey started to walk. It was a gradual process and unlike when Aaron learned to walk, it is hard to pinpoint when she truly started to walk. At first Madeleine and Larissa said she had taken a few steps on their watch. But it was another week before I saw it. At that point I didn't consider it walking. But now she can take a couple of dozen steps without falling. And when she does fall, she can push herself back up to a stand without using any objects. She seems to walk best when she has something in each hand.
Whereas Aaron seemed content to wait and watch and try things when he could master them (like walking and talking), Audrey wants to do everything now. Aaron would go from not doing something to doing it well in a short amount of time (like potty training which he did VERY late, but mastered within a week). When Aaron learned a word, you understood it when he started using it. With Audrey, she says words for awhile before I catch on because they are often garbled. She tries to climb on anything she can and especially enjoys trying to climb into Aaron's bed. She can't, but she won't stop trying.
Audrey is also into clothes. When she finds her shoes (or someone else's) she wants us to put them on her. She'll take clothes (or ribbon) and drape them on her like she is trying to put them on. She LOVES Aaron's underwear. When she is helping me with the laundry by handing me the clean clothes from the laundry basket, she doesn't pass on Aaron's underwear without trying to put it on her head. And if I tell her it doesn't go on her head, she puts her arm through the leg hole and smiles at me proudly.
Overall, at 15 months, Audrey is a happy girl who adores her big brother. She is very inquisitive, easily frustrated (when she doesn't get her way), but generally good natured.
Aaron's first word - Mama - was on his 15 month birthday so it is interesting to see how many words Audrey has at 15 months. Her first word was "Hi" and her most recent word that I can recall is "mouth". Here is list of words I have heard her use correctly more than a few times. She often will repeat a word after I say it but won't say it again and I haven't included those here.
hi
baby
bye-bye (usually said after the person has walked away)
mama (generally repeated multiple times in increasing intensity)
papa (usually whispered as if in awe)
more (accompanied by the sign for more for added emphasis)
uppa (for up - we taught her Aaron's original version of this word)
hop-hop (for the motion as well as bunny crackers)
Babu (Aaron's early nickname for Larissa which we taught Audrey)
bear
gate
boop (what you say when you touch someone's nose)
beep (what you say when you pinch your nose between your thumb and forefinger)
cheese
milk
doggy
eye
ear
mouth
hat
I think she has a few other unintelligible words including something that is supposed to be 'brother'. The phrase "I nee" is repeated loudly and with great emphasis to indicate she wants something to which she is pointing. She also calls the wagon "oggy" although I have no idea why. It's usually when she sees it and she'll yell "Oggy! Oggy! Oggy!" because she wants to push it around. And although not technically a word, if you ask her what a sheep says, she'll say "Baa". Cows say "mmmm". And lions, tigers (including Tigger), and bears elicit a growl. Oddly, 'no' is not a part of her vocabulary yet, although she has started to shake her head when I offer her something to eat that she doesn't want.
Oh, that's another thing. Some time between 14 and 15 months, Audrey started to walk. It was a gradual process and unlike when Aaron learned to walk, it is hard to pinpoint when she truly started to walk. At first Madeleine and Larissa said she had taken a few steps on their watch. But it was another week before I saw it. At that point I didn't consider it walking. But now she can take a couple of dozen steps without falling. And when she does fall, she can push herself back up to a stand without using any objects. She seems to walk best when she has something in each hand.
Whereas Aaron seemed content to wait and watch and try things when he could master them (like walking and talking), Audrey wants to do everything now. Aaron would go from not doing something to doing it well in a short amount of time (like potty training which he did VERY late, but mastered within a week). When Aaron learned a word, you understood it when he started using it. With Audrey, she says words for awhile before I catch on because they are often garbled. She tries to climb on anything she can and especially enjoys trying to climb into Aaron's bed. She can't, but she won't stop trying.
Audrey is also into clothes. When she finds her shoes (or someone else's) she wants us to put them on her. She'll take clothes (or ribbon) and drape them on her like she is trying to put them on. She LOVES Aaron's underwear. When she is helping me with the laundry by handing me the clean clothes from the laundry basket, she doesn't pass on Aaron's underwear without trying to put it on her head. And if I tell her it doesn't go on her head, she puts her arm through the leg hole and smiles at me proudly.
Overall, at 15 months, Audrey is a happy girl who adores her big brother. She is very inquisitive, easily frustrated (when she doesn't get her way), but generally good natured.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)