Monday, November 19, 2007

Fifteen Months Old


Can you believe Madison is 15 months old already? She is just a ball of energy these days.
She is still wearing size 4 diapers and is almost solely in 18 month clothes now.
Her vocabulary is really growing too, both signing and verbal.
Lots of people ask us why we decided to teach Madison sign language. People ask if signing slows her verbal skills. Signing helps Madison communicate her needs and wants with ease. Some letter combinations are tough to say as a baby. Things like 'th' and 'ch' and 'sl' are tough say when you are first learning to verbalize. When we learn a new sign together, Madison gets excited and still tries to say the words. We've found it is important to SAY the words we are signing. Nothing should REPLACE your verbal interaction with a child. Signing simply supplements her learning. She tells us when she wants to eat, drink, nurse, sleep, bathe-it's great. Don't get me wrong, we don't practice 'child led' parenting in our house. We still have a regular eat, sleep, bathe, play schedule. Signing just helps Madison tell us what she is feeling or discovering. Its so fun to play outside with her and see her little hands go wild when she sees a bird, or plane, or cat. She LOVES to sign to us what she finds. She even signed her first SENTENCE this month, "Eat cheese!". So fun.
This month she really started showing her excitement more, too. When Matt gets home from work, she's always been excited, but now she runs to the door shreeking with excitement. Sometimes she runs to the front window with Sierra yelling, 'Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad'. She's such a crack up.
She's discovering how things work more and more too. Including figuring out how to stack smaller things on top of each other to create stairs to get to places she isn't supposed to be. Or learning how to pull her baby gate down while Mommy is in the shower so she can cruise into the kitchen and 'bathe' in Sierra's water dish.
Everyday Madison learns a new way to get herself into trouble. Daddy says we are in for it!
Mommy and Madison are working out a new weekly routine. We played with some friends during the day this month and tried out MyGym- a mommy and me group here in town. When the holidays are over and we are back at home, we want to get Madison involved in more play groups. She has such a great time interacting with other kids, we really want to build on that.
Time certainly is flying with this little one.
Most of our daily ins and outs were covered in the trip to Fl, and Halloween posts. Madison also learned to climb the ladder while she 'helped' Mommy and Daddy hang a new ceiling fan in their room and some fun storage crates in her own room. She enjoyed lounging in her glider holding ALL her bears, babies, and dogs while we worked. She still loves going to the park to swing and run around with Sierra. Her favorite part of being outside is riding in or pulling around her wagon. When she's playing in the house, if she sees a hat she'll put it on- even if she already has one, or two, or three on. She has also taken a liking to socks and shoes. Hers, Mommy's, and Daddy's. She'll put them all on- or try anyway. We are having fun with every change and looking forward to every new day.
For those who are interested- Yes, we are trying for another baby. No luck yet but we'll keep you posted. Matt sure is having fun 'trying'.
Check out pics from this month.

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