Words words words

Dear Zoe, Recently, some people have asked how many words you are saying.  I do my best to recall the ones you use often, but lately it seems like you are saying more words each day!  As of today, 2 days shy of being 16 months old, these are your words--

dada
mama
hi
bye
ball
book
cheese
up
tea
hot
Ellen
Elmo (Ellen and Elmo both sound like LaLa, but you know the difference between the two)
shoes
cookie
keys
more (this is new as of today- you are signing more and saying it at the same time- such a smarty pants!)
ba (this is what you call your paci- not really a word, but I know what you mean when you are calling for it!)

That makes approximately 17 words (I am probably forgetting some) that you are consistently saying knowing what they mean.  According to BabyCenter, at 16 months, MOST toddlers should be saying 7. You are saying more than double that! Such an overachiever.

In addition to those words, you can point out your nose, eyes, ears, teeth and toes.  You also can tell me what a cow says (oooo!), what a piggy says (snort, snort!) and sometimes what a sheep says (aaa!).    You can also communicate to me when you are hungry ("mama- mmmmm") or when you are thirsty ("mama- ahhh")

You definitely understand more than you can speak.  I will ask you to go and get your shoes from your room, and you toddle off and return shoes in hand.   Just today, we were getting ready to go out and I asked where my keys were and you went and got them from the floor in the living room.  You are such a helpful little lady.

Mmmmmm!  Enjoying some delicious cuisine.

xoxo, the mama

It's Magnetic!

Dear Zoe,

Your most recent obsession is anything magnetic.  I recently realized (after living in our condo for almost 4 years) that the back of our front door was magnetic, so I hung some of our Christmas cards on the door with magnets.  You thought this was pretty cool.

Since then, one of your favorite things to do is take off all the magnets from the door and bring them to me.  Hours of fun!  I just got you some magnetic letters and you. went. nuts!  I put them up in alphabetical order and sang you the ABC's and you acted like I was a genius (one of the best perks of being your mama).

It's the little things that keep your attention and provide you with hours of entertainment.

xoxo, the mama

Not just another day at the park...

Dear Zoe, the weather this week has been great- yesterday, it was almost 60 degrees.  In January!  We celebrated this unseasonably warm weather by what else...going to the park!  However, this wasn't a normal day at the park.  In days past, you would swing on the swings and maybe go down the slide on my lap.  But now that you can walk, it is a whole new ballgame.  Swings?  Those are for babies.  Sliding down the slide on my lap?  Amature.   You want to do it all by yourself.

Assessing the playground, making a plan on which activity to tackle first.

Hey guys, look at me!  I'm a BIG girl.

May have been the 15th or 16th down the slide...even before you reached the bottom, you already started doing your sign for "more".

"Hey, can you believe how FUN this place is?"

Trying to resist the urge to put your mouth on every bar.  Ew.

Overall, it was a very successful excursion.  Of course, your mama had to resist the urge to yell at every child that didn't pay attention to you or ran past you too fast and made you lose your balance... this IS a park after all and they are just kids.  :)  You really didn't want to leave.  This was the first time that you kicked and screamed on your way out.   

But...we just went home and enjoyed some pita and hummus and you were all better!

Delish, mom!  What flavor is this, roasted red pepper?

xoxo, the mama