Happy 15 Months

The babes turned fifteen months old today. H and I are so pleased with how well they are doing. We are sick right now, but that is rare for us (knock on wood). Everyone is sleeping well at night (knock on wood). They are starting to balk at the afternoon nap some days, but I am trying to keep them consistent.

Lucia is a little love. She loves to come up behind us and hug our legs. She is our most social child and our most dramatic. She loves to see new faces and will offer smiles and "hey"s without prompting. Lucia is very good at throwing a ball. "Throw down" and "flinging fit" are words we frequently use to describe Lucia's tantrums. It seems "There once was a girl, who had a little curl...." was written for our Lu. She is so happy most of the time, but when she's not, look out.

Words she is using are "see," "all done," "hi," "bye." Signs she will make without prompting are "all done," dog," and "milk."
One of the newer skills we are working on is having the babes bring us items or take something to a specific place: like "take the magnet to the fridge" and "bring me the shoe." This really illustrates to me how they understand so much. I often just think of the main set of words that we say and sign as their vocabulary, but, while they don't offer these words back to us, they understand a lot more than we realize.
Elliott is such an easy child. He sleeps well (knock on wood) and he eats well (knock on wood). His main form of aggravation is stealing his sisters' toys and getting in their space. He would spend most of his time outside if the logistics of our life allowed it. But, with three babes and a pond thirty feet from our front door, we don't go outside much except in the stroller or choo choo wagon.

Elliott still loves books more than anything. He has entered the phase where he wants the same book read repeatedly. As we sit reading together, I am struck by how this must be such an important habit for major language acquisition: seeing and hearing the same words over and over, imprinting them into the little brains. Elliott will say "dog," "go," "mama," He signs "gentle," "milk," "more," "thank you," "shoes." He will sit and read our My First Signs book from the Signing Time series and make signs as he looks at the pages.

As you can see from these pictures, something simple and random can become the fascination for the day. Colored plastic container lids were our favorite thing of the day recently. They liked seeing the world in a different hue and also pressing their faces into them.

Mazie Bell is a sweetheart. She loves to be held, and she loves to give kisses. In the morning when she wakes up, her brother is usually still asleep. She will often say, "Buh, Buh," the first syllable of his nickname. Elliott's crib is on the other side of a French door that separates the nursery from the living area. I have to watch her in the mornings, because she will go to the french door and bang on it with a toy to wake him up. Wherever Mazie walks, she walks with such intention, as if she were going to complete an important task.

Mazie says "buh" for "Bubby," "banana," and "bottle." (The girl has got her B sound down.) She also says "go," "goat," "ball," "mama," She signs "goat," "banana," "milk," and "please."

One other thing the babes are doing is identifying body parts. When you ask them, they will point to their hair, ears, teeth, bellybuttons, and toes. They are having such a time with nose. Just this week Mazie pointed to her nose for the first time.

H and I are so grateful for our babes and how well they are doing. We look forward to celebrating the season with them. We hope your holiday season is going well and is filled with joy and thanksgiving.