Sonia’s development seems to be accelerating. She has picked up way more in this 18th month than even last month, which we had thought was a pretty big leap.
Sonia’s tummy troubles at the end of last month morphed into a runny nose, increased drooling, and increased sensitivity in her mouth, which made us think that she was teething. However, those symptoms have come and gone a couple times over the month and still no canines. Maybe coincidence, or perhaps it was tied to the growth spurt Sonia definitely experienced in the first half of the month. For about 2 weeks, Sonia asked for more food than I could have ever imagined fitting into that little body! One morning she and I even had the exact same breakfast – 2 pieces of toast with almond butter and jam – and she was still hungry 2 hrs later! She needed it though, and she is now up to over 33″ and 23 lb, with a bit less of the baby belly than she had before.
She got the energy to go with all that eating, and the coordination that came with the growth. This month she started to climb on everything, and it seems like we now spend half our time asking her to sit down or not jump on the bed or couches. At My Gym, several people have commented at how coordinated she is for how young, but it sure seems like the falls and bumps some body part or another very often.
This begs the question of how we are going to start handling her disobedience. For now we can tell it is still just testing her boundaries, not mischieviousness. We have been giving warnings/instruction which is often followed, at least momentarily, and then just removing her from the situation when she disobeys again or crosses a line. Sometimes that results in tears (she’s a pretty dramatic girl in general), but they are usually short-lived and quickly forgotten. I have also started to test out the idea that you are supposed to give toddlers choices when they get demanding or disobedient, but so far it seems like that is going over her head.
Sonia has been obsessed with books this month. In fact, there were a couple meltdowns at the beginning of the month when she didn’t want to stop reading when it was time for me to go get ready for work in the morning.
However, after a concerted effort at easing that transition, she quickly picked up “one more time” and “one more book,” which helped quite a bit. She still over-uses it, but it was impressive to hear the full phrase, and cute to see her hold up her little hand like a one when she says it. By the end of the month she was saying all her books by [a shortened] title when she’d bring them to us, and started to show the first signs of “reading” on her own with a book we got her that has pictures in place of some of the words, and also with “Moo” and “Baa” in her Farmer Duck book. When we point to them, she will say the word for us.
Phrases and songs have been Sonia’s key verbal development this month. In addition to Baby Beluga, she can now ask for “Ee Bee Ba Ba” (Itsy Bitsy Spider), and does the “Oh No!” part of Slippery Fish. She attempts to do the actions to those, plus the Wheels on the Bus, and can also do 5 Little Monkeys, including the finger wag of the doctor, which is adorable. She also has started to sing along to a few parts of the ABC’s, especially the last part “Now ah now ah ABC.”
I have stopped counting how many words she knows, and she can repeat just about any phrase. In fact, there are times when we are starting to wish she would stop talking 🙂 We have also already started having to spell things when speaking in front of her, such as “fig bar” and “crackers” to avoid her asking for them incessantly, and she very easily responds to multi-part sentence requests. For example, saying “eat your eggs and then you can get some of Mommy’s cereal” results in a very quick handful of eggs to the mouth. The nanny also got her some flashcards which she apparently loves. I think she’s picked up every word in the deck. One late breaking word of note, though, is her own name. It sounds a bit more like “Tota” than Sonia, but we can tell what it means. We have also been able to teach her to say “excuse me” instead of “move” when she wants someone out of her way. Too bad Luna doesn’t understand.
Interestingly though, for as many words as she knows, she is still not getting colors or numbers. She knows the right type of word to respond to the right question, but it’s still not the right number or color that she answers with. It is interesting that her “one-two” of last month became “one-two-three” for the first part of this month and then even “one-two-three-four-five-six-seven” later in the month. It’s like it’s all one word to her though. And for some reason, everything is “blue” this month instead of “green.”
Some fun things from this month include going to the Kidspace Museum in Pasadena, teaching her to give “back massages”, her giddy joy while “walking” on our feet, and “posing” for pictures with her blanket and frog. We also got her a Dr. Kit that she has started using on her stuffed animals. Too bad it hasn’t helped her be less afraid of the actual Dr, yet.
She also has started to really like trains, and she even got to ride one at the pumpkin patch we went to on her 18 mo birthday.
As the time gets closer for the new baby to arrive, we have been trying to prepare Sonia in small ways. We got her a couple big sister books, and she can now say “big sister” and “baby cry” when she hears another baby crying, but I still don’t think she has any idea what is coming. We also started using toothpaste and brushing twice a day as part of her routine. She has taken to it very well, but still doesn’t know how to spit. Finally, we started to have her try to undress herself in preparation for potty training somewhere down the line, but for now she only goes through the motions and still needs help to actually get things off.
It is sad to think of her not being my baby anymore. 🙁