Posted in School

Our toddler, who is 18 months old today, keeps on amazing us with the things she does.  She's a super imitator, has a large (for her age) vocabulary of words and signs that she'll string together in groups of 2-3 to express her thoughts.  She's constantly adding new words and sounds to her vocabulary - the latest was "Ding-dong" which she heard and mastered immediately and repeatedly in the car yesterday. 

She loves putting puzzles together and can figure out where pieces go, though she has difficulty rotating them to fit properly most of the time.  She has a renewed interest in her ring stacker - which revealed that though she doesn't know her colors yet, she can follow verbal directions to put the rings on in the proper order without getting frustrated.   She can point to items for us to count - like the two ears of a doggie, her favorite animal and toy.  And she knows all the main parts of the body, even transferring that knowledge to find body parts of toy animals like horses or bears.  She even says "mouth, eye, and nose" fairly intelligibly. 

She has a Little-Touch LeapPad and has mastered putting the cartridge in or out, turning it on or off, and pressing the "Green Go Circle" when turning the page (or when prompted).  She understands how to turn most of her toys (that have switches) on or off, and she even turned off our musical keyboard the other day when I asked her to. 

She has become an expert climber, even climbing into or out of her crib when the side is down.  She walks up and down the stairs (2 feet to a step, of course).  Now that we've pulled her highchair up the table without the tray at mealtime, she's much happier about climbing into it, though her appetite is often quite small, and she refuses to even taste most vegetables (aside from potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn).  She loves eating from a bowl with a spoon, and does a pretty good job of it, staying neat most of the time.  And she often alerts us when her diaper is uncomfortable, a sure sign that potty-training is just around the corner. 

I am surprised at some things she does since my older two never did them at her age, but then again they didn't have older siblings to mimic as she does.  One of her favorite activities this month is bringing me a songbook to sing from - her favorites are "If You're Happy and You Know It" (for which she'll clap, nod, or say "Amen"), and "This Little Light of Mine" (she holds her finger up throughout the song to represent the light).   She also enjoys bringing me little books of prayers to read to her, and even folds her hands when I start reading and says "Amen" at the end of each one. 

My little baby is growing up so fast.  In some ways I'm so thankful because her blossoming independence and obedient (for the most part) attitude will be so helpful when her twin sisters arrive in about 3 months.  At the same time I wish I could give her more time to be a baby and lavish the attention on her that I was able to give her older siblings when they were around that age, before I had 3 kids soon to be 5 kids.  The older kids are such a help though and really do teach her so much - I'm glad to have somehow raised such eager learners ... and teachers.  God has been so good to bless me with these terrific kids.