15 Months

 Three months have gone by since her last real update. Her level of understanding since then has been through the roof. And beyond. It's like something clicked, and all of a sudden, I can tell her to do things, and she'll do them! She has become so independent, it makes me happy and sad all at the same time.

She still really only says 'dog' consistently. But when she says it, she says it with so much excitement. And she doesn't just say it, she always yells it. She's obsessed with those creatures.

'Duck' is the only other word she says on purpose.

She's got tons of animal noises down. She can 'sssss' like a snake, 'awoooo' like a wolf(and lifts her head for it), growl like a tiger, 'moo' like a cow(my favorite one), 'oooh ooh aaah aah' like a monkey, and "ruff" like a dog. She pounds her chest like a gorilla, and waves her arm like an elephant's trunk.

She signs: fish, boat, sun, cracker, eat, milk, please, thank you, all done, bird, ball, shoes, hat, car, bike, teddy bear, banana, train, flower, tree, leaf, hurt, signing time, and can wave hi/bye and blow kisses. She recently started watching the signs for ABC's, and apparently picked up on a few without me knowing until recently. Thanks, Baby Signing Time!

When asked how old she is, she will put one finger up.

She can eat completely on her own now. The only time I ever help out is if I want to keep the mess at a minimum. She can spoon/fork feed, and does most of the time, but sometimes she just wants to get her hands dirty. Can we please talk about those olives? It must be second nature to eat olives on your fingers, because that's what she always does now. I just die every time I see it.

I had a great idea the other day as I watched her smearing her food-covered hands all over her hair. Baby food caps. Kind of like a shower cap. But for meal time. Genius, right?

Once she's done eating, whatever food or drink is left on her plate will QUICKLY get chucked to the floor, unless I catch it in time.

I can give her a piece of trash and tell her to throw it away, and she will. Let the chores begin! Speaking of chores, she loves to steal the vacuum from me and do it herself. What a kid.

I have to stop her from playing in the toilet ALL THE TIME. So gross. I keep trying to put off buying the childproof locks for them, but it might have to happen.

Her obsession with books has only gotten more serious. I find her looking through them by herself on many occasions. Some mornings we will spend 2+ hours just reading and looking through books. (side note: as a kid, I always just read before I went to sleep, and I think Pavlov took effect, because as an adult, I immediately get tired when I try to read. So I'm making it a goal to let reading be a fun daytime activity, not just a nighttime routine.)

Her outfit is not complete unless she is wearing shoes. She will bring me hers and then sit in my lap so I can put them on her. Sometimes she will go and find my shoes and try to put them on my feet.

Sometimes I think she's trying to jump or run. I can't quite figure it out, but I love seeing her experiment with her body.

She is understanding 'yes' and 'no', and will nod or shake her head when asked a yes/no question.

She knows the things she's not supposed to do, and before she does them, she'll look at me and wait for me to tell her to stop. Things like: standing up on the piano chair(still don't have a bench), playing with the vase, in the toilet, eating things off the ground that aren't food, or any other new thing she discovers and is not sure about.

She loves doing the hand signals for Patty Cake and The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

I took her to a lake by our house to feed the ducks and fish. I was surprised to see that she didn't even flinch as the ducks approached her. Once she saw the fish, she really, really, really, I mean really wanted to jump in that water with them.

I can ask a thousand times for a kiss, and she'll always push me away. However, if I act like I'm asleep with my lips puckered, she'll kiss me to wake me up every time.

She also likes to kiss babies(real and pretend), and she likes lots of kisses when it's time to go to sleep.

She's got the awkward baby dance down pat. You know, the slight bend of knees up and down. When it comes to her head nodding to the beat - she's super cool with that.

She likes to brush her own teeth.

She knows where most of her major body parts are. Eyes, nose, mouth, head, ears, belly button, feet, legs, etc.

I can only talk on the phone for about 5 seconds before she is in my lap and trying to steal the phone from me so she can have her turn at talking to whoever is on the line.

She likes to draw, stack things, push her stroller, sit on her car, and throw/kick balls.

It is so much easier to get her to smile and laugh. She often times squeals with excitement at certain things. I realize this should be normal, but compared to her oh-so-serious baby self, this is pretty exciting to us.