14 months

Arya is 14 months old today! I thought I'd jot down a few recent milestones so that I don't forget what things were like for her at 14 months.

Arya:
* Likes trying to use a spoon or fork to eat.
* Is quite comfortable with walking now.
* Helps me get her dressed/undressed by giving me her arms or pulling them out of the clothes.
* Loves being outside.
* Sits on the potty in the morning as soon as she gets up. (We haven't tried it much during the day except for occasionally after she wakes up from a nap.)
* Understands simple instructions/questions including:

• Wave bye-bye
• Say hi
• Blow kisses
• Give me a hug
• Give me a kiss (She opens her mouth and puts it on your cheek.)
• Give me the ________.
• Pick up the ________.
• Sit down.
• Stand up.
  
• Clap your hands!
  
• Come here. (She doesn't always do this one when we ask, but I'm pretty sure she knows what it means!)
• Dance!
• Shake the _______ (towel, toy, rattle, etc.).
  
• Where is the _______?
• Where is Arya? (She then hides behind an object or her hands and plays peekaboo.)

* Recognizes and is able to make the following signs (in order of when she learned them as much as I can remember!):

• More (She puts the fingers and thumb of one hand together and touches them to the palm of the other hand. She mostly associates this with food. She uses this when she wants something to eat. Learned this sign quite some time ago - maybe around 9-10 months.)
• All done (Puts hands palm up and rotates them back and forth. Says this in combination with "ah dah" or simply "dah". Learned maybe around 10-12 months (?) and uses it OFTEN - whenever she is tired of anything, wants to do something else, wants out of the carseat/stroller/shopping cart, is finished eating or sitting on the potty, or when someone leaves (example: After Rajeev leaves to go to work or school, she'll sign all done while saying "da da", basically telling me that Daddy is gone.)
• Change (Clasps hands together and rotates them back and forth. Uses in association with having her diaper changed. When she uses it she usually does need changed, but doesn't use it all of the times that she needs changed. Learned around 12 months?)
  
• Thirsty (Touches her neck with one finger. Says this in combination with "bo-bo-bo" when she wants something to drink. Learned in the last month.)
• Eat (Puts fingers and thumb of of one hand together and touches mouth. This is pretty new - in the last 2 weeks or so. She's starting to use it along with the "more" sign when she is hungry.)
• Thank you (Moves hand toward and away from chin with palm facing her. Very new inconsistent. First done multiple times last Sunday when I gave her some bites of a Nutrigrain bar.)

* As of 4/28/07, Arya knew and was able to use the following words:

• da da (for Daddy)
• ma ma (for Mommy)
• ight (for light)
• eye (for eye)
• tk-ah (for tickle)
• ca-ca (for cracker)
• chss (for cheese)
• ah dah (for all done)
• sss (for paci/pacifier)
• ball (for ball)
• ba (for bye)
• ha/hai (for hi)
• ha (for hair)

* As of today (5/24/07), the following words can be added to the list above:

• bay-bay/bay-be (for baby - She is so interested in other kids! She says baby when she sees a baby anywhere - at the store, on tv, in a magazine. She also uses it for her doll and for other kids who seem closer to her size!)
  
• bo-bo (for cup/drink/bottle/etc. - I think she got this from the word bottle, even though she has hardly used a bottle and we rarely use the word.)
• she now says a very clear "hi" for hi rather than "ha/hai"
• egg-ah (for egg)
• beep (for beep - when she is driving the Grandma's toy car and pushing the horn!)
• car (for car - learned from the toy car, but now uses in association with real cars. This week while reading her 100 First Words book, she got to the "things that go" page and without prompting from us, she pointed out the car, the truck, the fire truck and another car-like vehicle from among the other pictures, identifying each as "car" and leaving out the things like the plane, boat, motorcycle, etc!)
  
• op/ahp (Nepali word for mango. She learned it this week and loves saying it again and again!)
• hah(t) (for hot - started saying it when walking barefoot on the sunny deck at Grandma's)
• whasah (for "what's that"? - This phrase is used all the time!!)
• ah-sah (for outside - where she LOVES to go)
• go (for go, as in go somewhere else, away from where she is right then - go outside, go inside, etc.)
• Iz/Iss (for Aunt Liz - she's used multiple times. I'm starting to think she really does know what it means.)
• buh-buh (for butterfly - This is a new one as of yesterday. She always wants to look at the butterfly decorations in her room from her birthday party. Yesterday she was playing with one and saying buh-buh-buh. I thought it was coincidence until she saw a dress with butterflies on it in a stack of clothes waiting to be put away and she pointed directly to the butterflies multiple times and said "buh-buh-buh"!)

(I'm probably forgetting some! I guess I can add more later.)

*Also, these aren't really "words", but she does the cutest animal sounds:

• woo, woo (sounds like oo in look. This is the sound that dogs make, like "woof, woof". She loves dogs and birds and when she sees them she makes her mouth into an o shape and starts imitating their sounds!)
• high pitched bird sounds (She makes this a lot when she gets up in the morning and hears the birds singing, and also when she is outside watching the birds in the yard.)
• oohh (imagine the word "roar" without the r's . She has a book that talks about lions roaring and when we read it she always imitates this sound as much as she can!)
• eeee! (in the same book, it says, "If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream!" I always do a little scream for her at that point and then she does her adorable little crocodile scream!

* There are so many things I could write, and I'd still be leaving things out. Arya is learning new things so quickly. I am constantly amazed to watch her little mind working things out and making sense of the world around her. She is a very fun little girl. She loves to play and even joke around. She does this pointing thing with her Aunt Liz when she sees her and it is like their own little inside joke. She loves to dance. She is fascinated by other kids. She hasn't quite learned about sharing though! (She was quite unsure of what to do when another little boy was driving the car at Grandma's. She really wanted it!) She is very opinionated, but very loving and friendly. Isn't it amazing that kids have so much personality at such a young age? Anyway, we are beyond blessed to have this little girl in our lives. Sorry for such a long post all at once, but I just needed to get these things down because I don't want to forget all of the milestones.