16 Months

Yesterday I measured Tess and she had grown almost a half inch in 4 days! It was hard to believe. Though what seems most remarkable lately is how she's shifting in her cognitive and physical abilities. It's subtle and so it can be hard to notice, but last night I was thinking about all of the things Tess can now do and understand, and I thought it was worth recording.

Understands Language - Tess now understands all of the following and more

• The verbs nurse, go, eat, drink, sleep, dance, sit, play, read, take, push, splash, run
  
• She knows the words/ideas for bath, night-night, go outside, up and down, no, hug and kiss, stop, dog, kitty, many body parts (including cheek, chin, eyebrows, and knees now), book, toy, several foods, all done, all gone, water, phone, slide, swing, boy, girl, baby
• She says mama and dada. She copies sounds sometimes. She says "hi" and "bye." She says "yes" and shakes her head for "no."
• Tess will shake her head "no" a lot in response to things we are saying. A lot of the time she is doing it with understanding, though often we know she doesn't understand. The other day Eric thought she was just mindlessly shaking her head, so he asked her "do you want a pony?" expecting her to shake her head. But instead, when she heard the word pony, she started to kick her legs in the motion we do for a song with the lyrics, "see the pony galloping, galloping."
• She's started to sit through storybooks. She used to only want to look at pictures, but now she brings me the books with stories and has more patience.
  

Actions

• She's walking around the living room right now with the phone pressed up to her ear, babbling, fake laughing periodically, and raising her eyebrows as if in serious conversation.
• She can walk several blocks by herself, will hold hands to cross the street (though she's not aware of the street yet), and will follow me most of the time.
• She can easily stack. She's getting better at her shape sorting toys. She's starting to understand puzzles.
  
• She now hugs stuffed animals and has favorites.
• She's crazy about all animals and will abandon any activity at the park to chase the pigeons and squirrels. Dogs are her all-time favorites.
• She points and says "dat," wanting me to give her names for things
• She can identify her uncles in a favorite photo she likes to look at every day.
• She wants to jump so badly, and will come up on her tippy toes in her attempts at it.
• She's climbing a lot now. Though she's still super cautious and will scream for me to come from another room rather than attempt to get down on her own.
  
• She can walk up and down pretty steep ramps.
• She's starting to love putting things away. She will empty the cupboards and then clean it all up. She loves to put objects in a basket or bowl. And she sings the tune for the clean up song. It's the one tune that is very clear when she's singing.
• She's copying more refined hand movements when we sing songs together.
• She seems to understand more refined humor. She understands if someone is fake crying and it makes her laugh. She's better at teasing us.
• She points and gestures and is good and telling us what she wants.
  

It's like I'm watching the scaffolding of her language come together these days. She's so much more of a little person, keeping me company throughout the day. She's still very baby and still not really talking, but I feel like I'm watching a big shift happen ever so slowly.