Watch Her Grow...

This Week's Focus: Practical Life and Language
Wow!  It's been a long time since I've done this.  Moving, holidays, and a lack of Internet connection make blogging tough!  And, I decided to take a little break.  But, a lot of growing has taken place in the meantime! 

 
Interactions with Materials

• Still loving her baby doll.  She likes to make sure that her baby washes her hands before meals, goes potty, takes naps, and even take her vitamin D drops.
• She has a small metal lunchbox and a little bag that she likes to carry around the house.  In addition to a loading and unloading them, she really like practicing using the latch on the lunchbox. 
• Last week she mastered her shape puzzle. She typically can identify the shapes when we say them and place in them puzzle.
• Balls!  Since she got to watch a few minutes of football on Thanksgiving, she has been replaying the events over and over. She acts out kicking and throwing the ball.  Daddy bought her a football, and she loves it!

Interactions with Others 

• We are still a little nervous about meeting new people.  If a child approaches too quickly at the park, she often screams.  But, we've been able to hamper these fears by acknowledging that it's scary to meet new people, but that a polite thing to do is shake people's hands.  (She loves shaking hands right now.)
• She is still baby crazy.  Whenever we are out and about she yells, "Baby!" when we see anyone under the age of about 18. 
  

Critical Thinking

• It's amazing to see how much she understands now.  Before we leave to run errands, I'll tell her what we are going to do, and as we complete items from our list, she'll tell me what we are doing next using signs or her words.  Yesterday, for example, she explained over and over that we had to buy "meow yum" (catfood) before we could go to the park.
• She's very interested in emotions.  I suspect this is largely because she is hearing more emotion words as we are handling small tantrums or expressions of anger/frustration.  Last night she enjoyed reading a book and pointing out who was "happy" (the first time she used this word) and who was "AHHHHH!" (mad).

Interactions with Life

• We are certainly starting to see her enjoyment of established routines.  During playtime, she'll practice our bedtime routine. And throughout the day, she works on describing what we do.  And, she's always very excited to tell Daddy about our day when he comes home.
• We are getting over a little stomach bug.  Thanksgiving food was too much fun, I suppose!

We are linking up with Vibrant Wanderings!  Check out what the other kiddos are up to!