General Update December

Age(in months, or years and months): 26.5 months

Physical abilities: I've not really noticed anything new this month. We are in the process of moving, so there are a lot of boxes ready to go now. The other day I packed up all of her toys and books in her bedroom. I was not paying attention and she climbed up on top of three boxes (about 6 feet in the air) and yells "Look at me!" I about had a heart attack.

Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: Longer complex sentences, but still sounds like a baby. She's a little bossy this month and very opinionated. Using words such as "I'd rather"

Reading/pre-reading: A little less reading time with me this month, but still very interested. Requesting other areas on Starfall besides the ABC area.

Number stuff: She is very confident about her counting ability even though she still skips numbers. I gave her a popsicle the other day, actually half of one, and then she asked for another so I gave her the other half. She still wanted more, and I said that she had already had 2 while holding up 2 fingers. She holds up 5 fingers and says that she wants 5 popsicles. I guess I'm not too worried about the rote counting since she seems to have a good understanding of quantity and 1:1 correspondance (even if she says the wrong number at times)

Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: She wanted donuts the other day for breakfast but we didn't have any. She told me I needed to go to the store to buy some for her, and that she'd also like some chocolate milk. I didn't expect her to have made the connection that food doesn't just magically appear in the kitchen, you actually have to buy it. When told we needed to go home and take a nap, she said she'd just be able to sleep in the car and we didn't need to go home just yet.

Creativity: nothing new to report except as linked to imagination

Imagination: Huge month for pretend play. She is very interested in preparing food for us and pretending other toys are food. Blocks are cakes, anything can be a glass of milk or water, she makes candy out of legos. Frequently feeds the dog, although the poor animal is so confused as to why Piper keeps giving her "food" that she can't eat. She even puts it on plates to serve it. She is also turning objects into paintbrushes and pretending to paint in the bathtub, on boxes, etc.

Social: I was very happy with her interactions at Thanksgiving with her younger cousins. She has never shown any interest in playing with them before. They are 19 months old. When they would get upset about a toy she had that they wanted, she was so very sweet and would give it to them all on her own and share. She still won't really play with them, but I was glad she was kind for once. Of course she idolizes her 7 year old cousin and really only wants to hang out with him.

Character/personality: Sweet, silly, manipulative Has started understanding time out, and will sit for a moment but runs to me saying "sorry mommy" over and over to get out of trouble.

School Updates: n/a