Learning and growing

Ivy is learning new words so fast I can hardly keep up! Her vocabulary has more than doubled since I last posted about three weeks ago. So added to the list  now:

Backpack
Truck
Ball
Bike
Cat
Keys
Knee
Cheek
Chin
Bean
Pushchair
Duck
Please
Bean
Hi
Bye
Dog
Book
Read
Wipe
Bear
Tea
Happy
Apple

And it's not just words she's been learning. Suddenly she is climbing up and down off the sofa, no longer has a fear of the stairs, and in general she is tackling her fine and gross motor skills. She is understanding so much of what say and often happily follows instructions. Yesterday she was watering plants in the garden, and I'd ask her to water particular pots and she would. When she ran out of water, she'd hold out her watering can and ask "Please? Please?".

With all this developing there are some downsides and this week came the first of the tantrums. She can unscrew lids now, and sometimes when I ask "Ivy, can you give it to me please?" she understands but doesn't want to. Cue meltdown.

Suddenly she seems like such a toddler, probably because she is. I really don't think I can get away with calling her a baby any more! And that's ok, because I'm really enjoying this age. It's amazing to see her taking so much in and learning so fast. She has clear likes and dislikes.

She has recently discovered the slide. And I discovered that she can climb up it when I turned around to find her half way up. Yep, learning fast. (Not this slide, this slide is small. It was a big slide and slightly scary moment for me.)

16 Months

Ivy turned 16 months this week. I am gradually started to loose track of her age in months, and it takes me longer to answer when asked how old she is.

At 16 months Ivy says:

Zis? (This?)
Mum/Mummy/Ma/Mama
Dad/Daddy/Da/Dada
Shoes
Cheese
Toast
Toes
Door (most used word at the moment)
Bee (her bumble bee backpack)
Baby
Owl
Uh-oh (does that count as a word?)
Whee (for fun stuff, again, is that a word?)
Dot (when drawing dots with her pens)
Eye
(Spaghetti - still only that one time!)


She also makes sounds for:

Dog: A-wruh/Woo woo
Car: Hurmm (sounds a bit like a throaty "ham")
Owl: OOooh Ooohh
Gorilla: OOhOOh
Lotion: Pssh


She copies a lot of words too, like: bird, burp, ball wipe, huit (French).

She signs:

Milk
Eat
More
Finished
Daddy (working on it)
Hot
Drink (sometimes)
Nappy (sometimes)
Sleep (sometimes)
Hat
Thank you
Daddy

And a couple of video's from April...


She really loves the keyboard. The whining at the end is because she suddenly noticed the owls on the shelf (they have been there her whole life and she *just* noticed!).





She still loves the phone. She is also wearing loads of clothes because this is what happens when we are inside for too long - she finds coats and asks me to put them on her! She paces on the phone like Kwojo. Notice when she drops the phone she says "shi.."? Oops, may have got that from me, need to make more effort not to swear!

Ivy, recently

- Says "door" (did I mention she likes going outside??) and "owl" (when she wants me to make an owl sound)

- Is into closing doors and drawers, even if you are using it at the time.

- Learnt the sign for "more" in an afternoon. We decided to start teaching her it at lunch time, and by dinner she was using it!

- This week she gave up on signing and words and gestures and anything else and instead used whining to try to communicate everything. Oh my god. Most irritating sound. With lots of encouragement and positive reinforcement she is starting to use communication that doesn't make my brain hurt.

- Is pretty good at kicking and dribbling a ball. She learnt this just from watching Kwojo. It's amazing/scary how much they pick up on when your aren't even try to teach them!

- Effectively used a fork for the first time to spear a piece of sweetcorn and eat it. It was impressive, and the concentration required was immense. (Another example of learning from observation).

- Has started using Kwojo's afro comb! She also uses forks to brush her hair.

- I unintentionally taught her to say "Wow" when she looks at the sky. She occasionally notices that it's there, throws her head back and stares skyward with a look of awe on her face. So I'd say "Wow, Ivy! Look at the sky, wow!". So now when she throws her head back she says "Waaaw!". Yes, the sky is pretty amazing.

- A while ago, when she had her immunisations, she was offered a chocolate button by the nurse and as she was really upset we gave it to her. She reluctantly took it, and then fed it too me! She was so sad and confused, and all she could think to do was give it to me - so sweet.

- Loves anything with wheels, and makes a "brrrrm" sound for toy cars as she moves them around.

- Is quite cuddly. She wraps her arm around my neck and rests her head into my shoulder. It's lovely. She didn't used to be as affectionate, she was too busy and on the move.

- Will put the lens cap on the camera while I am using it.

- Has a reading voice when she opens a book or sees words anywhere. She usually says "de doh di dah" in a soft slightly sing songy voice - I guess this is what we sound like to her when we read?!

- Enjoys the keyboard, and the many ways of playing it.

Reach and GRAB

Since sitting became official a couple of weeks ago, Ivy has suddenly 'got' reaching and grabbing. I don't know if these two motor skills are at all related (probably not as I know non-sitting babies who are good at grabbing), but she figured them out simultaneously. Previously, Ivy would reach (not very far) for something she was interested in, and as soon as her fingers touched something (often her other hand) she would bring her hands straight to her mouth. Suddenly, she is reaching at arms length, even leaning her whole body, successfully grabbing what she aimed for and happily tasting it. This also means she is now interested in her toys for longer than a few seconds. It must have been frustrating (and boring) for her to just look at stuff, not be able to touch it, and then taste her own hands again. We bought her a couple of wooden teething toys that she can easily handle, to give our knuckles a break from being gnawed on.



After Kwojo and I have eaten, Ivy likes to sit on my lap and chew on my empty plate or the edge of the table. I'm looking forward to starting baby-led weaning at the end of this month! She loves the apple juice carton (yet is uninterested in the grape juice carton which is a slightly different shade of green) but it is such an awkward shape for baby hands to grab. She gets excited when she sees it, flailing her arms, reaching for it, and making a little beak shape with her mouth. She is also very interested in mugs, and watches closely as we lift them to our mouths. She is clearly not ready for tea or coffee yet though.

Suddenly she is trying to reach and grab everything, not just her colourful toys. Nothing (within her arm length) is safe! Not even my face (owch). She is especially interested in grabbing the camera, see?





Kwojo's phone looks pretty desirable to those chubby little hands too.



Ivy is yet to learn the difference between 2d and 3d, so she tries to grab things that can't be grabbed - pictures in books, patterns on clothes, the baby in the mirror. And things that are too big to be grabbed, like the sofa and printer. Things that can but shouldn't be grabbed... my face.