Yum, Pickles!

I love this smile on her face. It's pure delight. She really enjoyed the pickle I gave her to eat.

New-Do

One of the best things about having a little girl is that you get to play with her hair. Of course that can also be the worst thing if you have no idea what to do with it, like our server told us today at lunch. Fortunately I have enough creativity, and Piper is patient and lets me do her hair any way I want. She is pretty good about not messing with it afterwards, but today she wouldn't leave the barrettes in, so this is the undecorated version.

Hippity Hop to the Easter Bunny

She loved the Easter Bunny when we were at the mall. She was waving and laughing at him when we first went up there. There was a group in front of us whose little girl was scared to death of him. I was really surprised that Piper decided she liked him so well. Even after her turn was over she was reaching out to him to pick her back up and playing with his eyes and nose.

Playing on the Sandbar

Behind our apartments we have a decent sized woods and the river is a short hike away. We took Piper down there a few days ago and she had a blast playing on the sandbar. Apparently the sand didn't bother her as much as it did at the Children's Museum. I bought her some sand toys to use the next time we go down there, and I know she'll have fun digging and sifting in the mess.

Ooey, Gooey, Oobleck

I did this activity with my first graders last Friday, so I thought Piper would enjoy playing with it too. Knowing that she loves to get messy, I knew this would be right up her alley. I did not add the food coloring to her mixture, and it was a little thin at first, but eventually it was the perfect consistency. If you have never done oobleck before, you have to try it to understand how very cool it is. I use it to teach about solids and liquids in the classroom, although it is actually neither one. It is a non-Newtonian substance (feel free to Google that if you really want to know more)

Oobleck is based on a Dr. Seuss book called Bartholomew and the Oobleck. In the book it was really bad if you ate the oobleck, but our oobleck was made out of cornstarch and water, and was harmless. I thought it wouldn't taste very good and Piper would keep it out of her mouth, but not my child! She decided it must be dinner and tasted it every chance she could.

Here is the recipe if you are inspired to get messy yourself.

Oobleck Recipe

2 cups of corn starch, 3 drops of green food coloring, enough water to make a thick mixture (about the texture of pancake batter) I usually measure equal amounts of water and corn starch, but mix water in slowly.

Night at Grandma's House

I let Piper spend the night for the very first time at Grandma's house last Wednesday. It was really emotional for me since she had never been away from me overnight before. Fortunately she did fine. I wasn't sure if she would go to sleep, since she is hard to get to bed at night. She does great taking naps with grandma though, so I was optimistic in thinking that maybe it would be similar. She resisted only a little bit, and I think grandma said she was in bed around 11pm, which I count as a major success!

Short and Sweet

Here are just a few quick stories about my crazy child over the last few days.

~We went out to eat at Uno's and ordered her dino bites. She didn't eat any of them, but had a grand time parading them around her plate making them roar. Apparently they liked to swim in the ketchup as well.

~ She was watching some boys play basketball after the church dinner. She looked so pitiful yet eager as she reached up with her ball in her hands and desperately wanted to shoot the basket too.

~She has finally learned how to play ring-around-the-rosy and knows when to fall down. Even when mommy is tired, she will try to sing it to herself and spin in circles...complete with falling down.

~For every 5 or so tries, she actually manages to mount the dog and ride her across the room.

One Fish, Two Fish

We have a 75 gallon aquarium with several fish that Piper loves to watch. She has liked to do this ever since she was very little. Last night she was watching them swim back and forth. Suddenly she gets down off her step stool and runs into her bedroom. I didn't pay too much attention because she is always on the go. She returns with her fish book, not the Dr. Seuss one, but a magazine that has fish on the cover. She then proceeds to show the fish her book and look at it and then at our fish. Finally she has a seat and reads the book to herself. I can hear her "counting" as she reads. This is her version of what I do when we read together and in no way resembles the actual number words. She also gets really mad at the book because it will not stay open, and she keeps fixing it and then yelling at it because it won't stay still. I couldn't believe she was so intent that she didn't notice me snap this picture.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hiking at Holliday Park

We have had beautiful weather the last couple of days, and it is expected to last the week. I am really looking forward to spring. We took Piper to Holliday Park to play and walk in the woods by the river. All we saw of the wildlife were ducks, and I spotted a couple wildflowers that were in bloom already. She enjoyed running on the trails and playing with a stick in the water. I am definitely bringing her back this spring when all the flowers bloom for some great pictures.

The park also has an amazing playground, and Piper had fun climbing and playing. I think she will really like the "spiderweb" when she gets a little older. It is basically monkey bars made out of rope that is shaped like a pyramid. We didn't go into the nature center this time. I'll have to make sure we have time to go there in the future.

Monkey Joe's

I have been waiting for a couple months for Monkey Joe's to open. They just built one right down the street from where we live, and I was very excited to take Piper to the grand opening today. It was busy, but not too crowded. I like that they have big kid equipment, as well as dedicated toddler areas for the little ones. Not that it stopped Erick from taking her on all the big attactions and slides. She had a great time climbing and jumping all over everything.

Here's a montage with all the day's fun-filled excitement. My favorite clip is when she slides down the giant slide all by herself.

Fun with Water

I bought my little munky a new swimsuit a while back for this summer, and was anxious to see what it looked like on her. She loves the water so I got out her blow up pool and stuck her in it with a container of water. I knew she would be content to play for a long while. Her favorite thing to do in the tub is pour water in and out of the cups. This was all I had to give her to keep her occupied while I cleaned the kitchen. Not that she can't entertain herself, but conveniently enough she associates the kitchen with food and automatically assumes I need to give her something more to eat, or if she's not hungry she'll keep asking for more food to feed to the dog.

18 Months...Look How Big I Am!

Is she really a year and a half old already? Sometimes it seems like she should be so much older, and other times she is still my baby girl. I can't believe how much she has learned already. This is a long list of things she can do at 18 months. Some things she just started and others she has done for a long time.

Stats: height: 34.5 inches, weight: 25.5 lbs, shoe size: 5 1/2, clothing size: 18 months for pants, 24 months for dresses/one piece outfits, and shirts, some 2T shirts, tights- at least 2T or bigger,

Teeth: all except 2 year molars, one front tooth is chipped

Hair: light brown/blond, almost reddish, getting longer every day and is past her ears now, can wear in pigtails.

Eyes: brown

Physical: walks (frontways, backwards, & sideways), runs, jumps off furniture, climbs everything, walks upstairs independently (but will use railing if it is there) and downstairs holding on to the railing, bounces on bed, strings beads and buttons on lacing string, pushes front/back on full size tricycle, can pedal tricycle if you give a slight push, tries to wash/dry hands, brushes hair, brushes own teeth several times a day, helps do laundry putting clothes in and out of the dryer, turns dryer on, blows kisses and gives real kisses with pucker, turns light switches on and off, closes doors and tries to turn door knobs, unscrews lids, kicks and throws balls overhand, "shoots" baskets, enjoys building with her megablocks, thinks it's funny to look at things upside downwhile looking through her legs, can balance on one foot for a second or two,

Clothing: can put on socks and shoes sometimes, hats, takes off clothes, unzips zippers, helps put arms in coat, hates to wear her shoes and frequently removes her socks.

Food: loves fruits and veggies, wants to feed self, uses fork and spoon, drinks from a straw, sippy cup, has distinct food and drink preferences, loves choclate milk, has still not had soda, breastfeeding twice a day, not using high chair at home-but still when eating out and at grandma's house,


Language: (about 80 words/sounds) pronunciation not great
words: mama, dada, daddy, ball, bye, no, dog, hello, yum, papaw, all gone, up, bug, nose, baby, what's this, bad, balloon, ladybug, book, this, uh-oh, see, beads, boom, whee, whoa, bite, bee, stinky, jump, hot, yucky, dirty, shh, pretty, bike, peas, tickle, block, eat, duck, blue, see ya, bubble, step, zoom, twinkle, ouch, play dough (dough), beans

animal sounds: dog, cat, cow, owl, dinosaur, lion, sheep, pig, mouse, chick, chicken, bird, airplane, train, car, frog, monkey, snake, horse, duck, kiss, laugh, cough, goose, camel, alligator, tiger, bear
Receptive language is amazing and she easily follows multi-step directions, I can't guess at her language comprehension

Cognitive: can point to all body parts on self and some on doll, easily does peg puzzles, working on 6-12 piece jigsaw, understands the word "rotate" and will rotate puzzle pieces if I remind her when a piece does not fit, does matching Eric Carle animal puzzle, sorts by color, shape, and occasionally size, stacking cups in order, stacks blocks (8) and builds trains, uses computer for Starfall, Kneebouncers, and Fisher Price websites, iPhone aps-drum kit, barnyard animals, sesame street podcasts, intentionally moves objects to where she can best use them to reach other things, seems to ask why or what happened questions, remembers what comes next in videos and books...anticipates, can pick out most shapes and some colors, matches numbers to pictures of numbers in her magnet book, some opposites like hot/cold, up/down, on/off, "counts" 123 on her fingers when watching Sesame Street,


Books: identifies objects in books by pointing or saying the word/sound, reads books to self for up to 30 minutes, loves to listen to stories and song books, can turn pages in books by self, pretends to count objects, can identify a few letters

Music: sings parts of songs- ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Your Boat, Elmo song, likes to play piano and other percussion instruments, loves to dance and has several moves, loves her baby genius nursery rhymes and TMBG cds and dvds

Art: LOVES art, uses crayons, pastels, tempera and finger paints, paint brushes, playdoh, colored pencils, markers, stickers, gluesticks. Has own art notebook to draw in at any time, draws circles and lines, likes aquadoodle, doesn't mind being messy

Pretend Play: feeds dolls/animals, pushes on tricycle and car, makes them say whee when sliding or having fun, talks on phone incessantly, cooks food in microwave, pretends to eat,

Potty Training: throws diaper away, signs potty, gets own diaper and wipes, has gone on the potty a few times, but once she got sick I stopped pushing it. She is too feisty to try it again right now.

Personality: loves to tease, has a good sense of humor and does things wrong (like pants on head, wrong shape in shape sorter)just to get a reaction and laugh, rare to get a true temper tantrum, but she is very strong willed and yells at you if she is frustrated or doesn't want to be touched, loves to give kisses to everyone and everything but in her own time, Fearless and never gets hurt. If she cries you know she is really hurt. Very independent! Loves to play in water.

Social: likes other kids but not around them much, prefers boys over girls, possessive of own toys, went through a hitting stage, but I think this has stopped. Loves animals especially dogs

Sleep: sleeps through most nights, but hard to get to sleep at bedtime. Takes nap(s) easily during the day.

Favorite things to do: art!, books, puzzles, pretend play, climb, dance

Bubbles

She had lots of fun playing with her bubbles at grandma's house.

BBC: must go to blog to view video clip.

Playing at the Park

I love that she is growing up and can appreciate the park more now. She is so independent and wants to do everything herself. She played on the slides a lot and it was interesting and funny to listen to her talk about the other child on the swings. "Baby...whee!" When we made it to the swings, she didn't want to stop and was having a great time.

Look Ma...No Hands!

Well apparently she can walk up stairs without holding on now. I didn't expect that yet. We took a walk yesterday and she climbed up the stairs just fine, but I didn't let her try to go down by herself.

BBC: See the video on my blog.

Suspension Bridge at the Zoo

Today was a really nice day. I think it got up to 70 degrees, which is unheard of in March. We took Piper to the zoo for a couple of hours. She is to the point where she can actually appreciate the animals and gets excited about seeing them.

We went on the suspension bridge at the rhino exhibit and she was so funny. She thought it was great that she could bounce up and down on the bridge. Then, the very next wooden bridge that we walked over was similar to the first one, and she thought she should have been able to bounce on it too. So she is standing there trying to bounce and jump, but it won't move, and people are laughing and saying how cute she is. Silly girl, but way to make a connection!

Knight's Night

My school had a fundraiser and carnival tonight and I took Piper along so everyone could see her. A lot of former parents and famlies had not seen her since she was a little baby and couldn't believe how big she had gotten. She is big for her age anyway, so I know everyone was amazed at how grown up she was. She really enjoyed the duck pond and playing in the water with the toys. She won a pink lei and a little squishy ball at a couple of the games. I had her face painted with a flower, but I don't think she even noticed. She was mostly excited about seeing all the kids.

They Might Be Giants

I ordered some DVD's and CD's from amazon.com for Piper last week. One of the items I purchased was the They Might Be Giants cd/dvd combo pack called "Here Come the ABC's" and "Here Come the 123's". The music is very well composed and surprisingly easy to listen to. Unlike a lot of kids music it is not your sickenly sweet lyrics and pop melody that drives you crazy after listening to it over and over. I did a little research and apparently they won a Grammy this year for the "Here Come the 123's" cd. (Now you know I didn't watch that awards show.) They also compose music for adults as well as I discovered by visiting their webpage. http://theymightbegiants.com/v2/

We watched "Here Come the 123's" the other night, but as usual, Piper still is rather picky about she will watch on t.v. She really enjoyed the music however. This is a video of her dancing to one of the songs called "Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go To Work)" She was a little distracted by her dry erase board and I thought she was going to fall over a couple of times because she was standing on a pillow. I still thought she was a good head bangetr though.

Fingerpainting "Circles"

General Update

Age (in months, or years and months): 17 months
Physical abilities: Has started walking sideways, really funny to watch but I can't figure out where she picked this up? Loves to jump on the bed, but still not getting both feet up yet. Enjoys leaping into our arms when we least expect it. Last night she climbed up the back of the dining room chair like a ladder.
Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: learning more words every day, probably about 70 words.
Reading/pre-reading: Can identify most objects in books now by either saying the name or pointing it out if we ask her where it is on the page.
Number stuff: Counts/shows on her fingers 1-2-3 when watching Sesame Street.
Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: Working on 6-12 piece puzzles. Is getting more adept on the computer and on my iPhone- very scary indeed!
Creativity: Still prefers her art time over most everything else. Drawing has become more focused and on a smaller scale, but I'm not real sure what she is trying to do. Loves to draw circles.
Imagination: Lots of pretend play with her kitchen and stuffed animals, although she is not really into her dolls. She likes to make her animals do crazy things like ride her tricycle or slide down the slide. They often kiss pictures in her books or talk on the phone with her. She is a big tease and will do silly things just to get your attention and then laugh, or act like she is going to give you a kiss and then run away.
Social:Doing better around other kids now and is not typically the aggressor. Does stand up for self though if threatened by holding arms out in front of her to keep other chid away. She is still a little possesive of community toys, but at least is not grabbing other kids' stuff.
Character/personality: Has been sick the last week or two and was very clingy to mommy. Did not want to go to grandma's house and cried when I left, which she never does. Since getting better, has become even more independent and willful, needing to do everything herself.
Anything else/other: Going to bed has started becoming a struggle again, although she is sleeping well all through the night. Next week is Daylight Savings Time and I am so dreading it, since I know she'll be up "late" and I'll be functioning on zero sleep at work.