16 Months

At almost 16 months, K has hit a window of rapid development in her expressiveness and engagement with the world. She loves books, animals (especially birds, monkeys, cats and dogs), quilts, and going outside. She recognizes a lot of animals and objects and can point them out in books when I ask her to find them (dog, cat, bird, zebra, tiger, cheetah, bear, fox, bunny, mouse, raccoon, ladybug, bumblebee, car, boat, plane, train, house, tree, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, banana, etc).

She is crazy about birds, especially the ones in the back yard, and is learning to tell some types of birds apart in books and pictures – mostly owls, puffins, parrots and chickadees (if there are multiple kinds of birds on one book page, she can pick these ones out when asked). She also knows some colors and can find red, blue, yellow and orange when asked (sometimes also green and purple).

She isn’t talking much, but when she does her main words are “mom” (which she says with varied inflections to communicate most things “mum / mom / mama / mam / MAM / MAM!!!), nana, dada, and bap. I’m not entirely sure what bap means but it seems to mean “up” “book” and “I really want something and you aren’t listening” depending on the situation. She says what’s that fairly often “wha da?” while pointing. I’ve heard her say dog, bird - “baod,” and bye-bye but not many times. I have heard her also say I did it – “I di ih” a few times and wasn’t sure of my hearing until others reported hearing that too.

Mostly, she points and makes complex little noises with inflection and diphthongs to communicate. They don’t translate well to writing, but are similar to “uunng-uhh” and “ung-uh-uh?” and sound a little like a penguin.

She just learned how to nod her head “yes” on Monday (11/21) and does so with such conviction, she shakes her whole body with an expression of intense focus as if she is trying to communicate by will power alone (which I expect she has been for a while and is now happy to find it is working).

She understands language well and follows directions (not to be confused with orders, or requests against her preference – these are most definitely not followed), like “where’s the red ball? Is it by the window next to the tiger?” and she will look to the window, then the tiger, then run for the ball.

For the last month or so, one of her favorite things has been pointing out eyes, nose and ears on herself, me, anyone around, and all toys. She’s starting to point out mouth too. I try to encourage pointing out nose and ears over eyes as I have been poked in the eye more than once with this game. She is very careful to not poke herself in the eye and points out her own eyes a good inch off to the side.

This level of detail is likely interesting only to me, but it’s nice to have a place to note things and moments. I expect to remember everything as it happens, but she changes so rapidly each new phase runs together and it’s like she’s always been the way she is now.