16 Months Old!

It’s that time again- the monthly update! Sit back and relax because there is a LOT to say about the past month!

I suppose the biggest changes this month occurred in the areas of vocabulary development and gross motor skills. First- vocab. Emily’s word list EXPLODED this month…I will attempt to write them all here but bear with me- I know I am forgetting some. This is probably the last list of words I’ll be able to come up with because she has learned so many and is coming up with new ones faster than I can keep track!

*apple

*uh-oh (in response to falling down or dropping something)

*doggie (FINALLY!)

*Mama

*Dada/Daddy/Dadadadadadad

*more

*more please (this one makes me *extra* proud!)

*uh huh (yes)

*uh-uh (no)

*no (getting quite good at this one....ugh!)

*Booker (sounds like “ocker”)

*bite

*ouchie

*bye bye

*baby (sounds like bee bee)

*hi

*hello (heyo)

*poo poo

*DeeDee (Jamey’s son’s name)


*cookie

*eat

*cheese

*GO!

*help

*up

*grapes (gape)

*happy (from “If You’re Happy and You Know It”…see story below)

*outside

*stack (for her stacking blocks)

*RAAH (like a scary roar…we do this back and forth sometimes)

*LOVE YOU (oooh yeah, she says it! See funny story below).

*Oh Jesus (this is Mommy’s fault…sometimes I say this if I drop something or am frustrated. Emily made me eat my words this month for sure when she burst out with this one. I am not proud).

* brush (like toothbrush. This is funny because she loves to brush her teeth but does not understand why ‘brush’ is part of hairbrush. So when I hand her a hairbrush, she first tries to brush her teeth with it.)

*She has a name for her silky blanket but it is not printable. It sounds exactly like a curse word so we’re hoping this month to get some development out of that word and maybe it will not sound so vulgar.


And now, for the funny stories and memorable moments:


•Over Valentine’s day weekend Emily began saying “love you” to us. It is adorable, yes, and I wanted her to say it to me one morning when I was leaving her at Jamey’s. I kept saying “Bye Emmy, love you!” to her, but she was only saying “Bye Bye” and giving me these huge, cheesy smiles. Finally I guess she had had enough of me trying to coerce her into saying ‘love you’ because she looked up at me and yelled “GO!” I thought Jamey and I might die from laughter…it was hilarious!


•She has this Fisher-Price mirror/stage thing that sings “If You’re Happy And You Know It” as the first song. The other day she was standing in front of it saying “happy, happy, happy” and I couldn’t figure it out. Suddenly it hit me that that is the first song that plays, so I turned it on for her (we keep her toys turned off unless she is playing with them because I kicked one in the middle of the night last summer and quickly learned my lesson. Waking her up with a musical medley of fun was NOT what I was intending when I poked in just to check on her!) As soon as I turned it on she got really excited—she knew that song was first!


•She is really into imitation right now- she will mimic any word or action we can do. It’s cute because she wants to brush her hair when I have my hairbrush out, etc. Part of the reason her vocabulary has developed so much probably has to do with her willingness to try new words we say (haha…whether or not we want her to say them, as in the “oh Jesus” case!)


•For her 16 Month Birthday (her “monthday” as we call it), we bought her this tunnel and tent set from Costco. It was a huge hit! She loved the tunnel and immediately went into it. I put a few toys in the tent (it’s shaped like a teepee…so cool!) and she really liked it! It’s fun to buy her ‘big kid’ things.


•She is beginning to show a lot of interest in hand-game type songs. For instance, Jamey sings a song to the kids called “Peter, James and John In a Sailboat”. It has some pretty distinct arm movements and Emmy is now really trying to do all of them. Sometimes she will say ‘please’ and be doing the movement and that is my clue that she wants to sing the song.


•She has fallen in LOVE with grapes. I held off for a long time with them thinking that they were too dangerous, but now I cut them in half and she eats them like they are candy! She loves them so much and would eat them, her veggies (see Month 15 Update) and chicken nuggets for every meal I think.


•We discovered the only way to get her to eat ground beef (or any beef…she hates steak…crazy kid) is to smother it in tomato sauce and cheese. She loves it that way so we’re making Hamburger Helper-esque meals about once a week to get some beef in her system.


•She has begun giving me raspberries on my belly! It is hilarious and tickles so much! Unfortunately, she has also become really, really obsessed with lifting my shirt to do so…anytime, anyplace. Can we say “awkward?!”


•She is getting really good with feeding herself using a spoon. The other morning she ate oatmeal using a spoon. I will readily admit that it was NOT a pretty sight but she did a really great job, actually! I was so excited watching her.


•Her new “hideout” is Katie’s crate. I promise, she is going in there completely on her own. There’s very little we can do to stop her since she knows how to undo the locks on the crate and let herself in. Katie, however, does not mind being let out of the kennel one bit. In fact, I think she likes that Emily likes being in her crate!


•She has an insatiable curious streak…she gets into every cabinet, drawer, nook, and cranny in this whole house. It is sometimes cute and a lot of the time super bothersome. You just can’t babyproof a whole house! She unrolls the toilet paper, pulls all the dishtowels out, slams drawers, steals my makeup, and is this close to being able to wrap her whole hand around the doorknobs. Then we are really, really in trouble. Any tips on what we can do with her, folks?

And that about does it. I told you this would be a massive update! As always, thanks for checking on our girl. Enjoy the pictures in the new album and be sure to check back soon…new things are happening all the time!