Katherine had her 18 month check up today (pix forthcoming). She’s now 33″ tall in the 85% and only 21 lbs. 5 oz in 10%. In other words, she is tall and skinny – very much like Steve. Katherine, Patty and I had a great visit. We arrived, the nurse ushered us to the room, and we stripped Katherine down. She sat on the scale and then had her height measured. Dr. Claudson stopped by and we chatted for a few minutes – he pronounced her as looking just fine – and then we were on our way. Katherine loved picking up her Nemo sticker on the way out, and best of all, no shots!
Wagon Mechanic
Tonight, Katherine re-discovered a wagon of wooden toys that she received for her first birthday. It includes wooden blocks, pegs, screws/nuts, and tools like a wrench, hammer. Before her final bedtime book time reading, she sped by her wagon and picked up a wooden peg almost like an afterthought. She then started to fiddle with it and a round hole in the side of the wagon. She then went into practice mode and spent the next 20 minutes pushing and pulling the peg into different holes. I could see her learning. When she first started, her approach was to jam the peg and yank it out staggering backwards from the effort. Then, she learned that she could use a twisting motion to get the peg in/out without too much difficulty. I also demonstrated how to use the wrench to unscrew another peg. She was intrigued and kept bringing the wrench to the screws and making a sweeping motion with the wrench. I think she’ll be spending more time with her wooden toys tomorrow. ๐
Katherine’s vocabulary is accelerating. She now repeats words that we use. I was pointing to the pix on the fridge, naming family members, and I think I heard her say “paw-paw.” I also asked her tonight if she wanted to go to the zoo this weekend. A few seconds later, I heard a quiet “zhoo.” She regularly refers to her stuffed animal friends as her “babees” and her milk as “mo mo.” She’ll take a book and push it back to me “mhore” for an encore reading or push her plate to me “mhore” for more watermelon or tofu.
Choices
No seems to be the default answer to just about any question, unless she really wants something. We’ve been trying to present Katherine with choices – whether it be clothes, food, toys. She really seems able to consider her choices. For instance, I’ve started to prop up her favorite books at bedtime against her wooden rocking horse. I then ask her to pick a book. She will sit, suck her thumb, ponder and then point in the general direction of a book.
She’s very observant. I ask her now to pick objects out in her dino book – for instance, I asked her tonight what she saw on the cover of her dino book. Unprompted, she stuck her finger on a very small train and said “choo choo.” She also will point to the dogs on each page and saw “wuf.” There’s also two mirror pages of dino drawings as you open and close the dino book. We ask Katherine about the drawings, and she will pick out matching pictures or find dino drawings with books or bubbles.
Two nights ago, I took Katherine for a walk in her jogger. We walked past a nearby house with a dappled grey horse, perhaps 100 yards away. Katherine peered out of her jogger, and I asked her what she saw…..”mooo.” The horse then raised its head and she blew raspberries to signify horse!
Singing Songs
Katherine really enjoys certain songs now, especially those with hand movements and that have to do with “boobles” or bubbles. We sing the “all the fish are swimming in the water” song and she wiggles her hands around. Also, she loves the song where we sing about tiny tim the turtle who drinks water, eats soap and has bubbles in its throat. When Katherine wants us to sing this song, she grabs our throat and nods vigorously when I ask her if she wants me to sing. ๐