A toddler?

Yesterday when I was calling Gabrielle "the baby", a friend said, "She's not a baby anymore. She's a toddler now. Look at how she gets around." So sad to me, but it is true. She doesn't just walk, she runs. She is trying so hard to keep up with her big sisters, even though she is still MY baby. She is now 15 months old (on Wednesday). Here's a little update on her:

She loves peekaboo and hide-n-seek. She chases the girls around the house and they "hide". She squeals delightedly when she finds them and then they run off to hide again. She actually runs after them, not walks.

She likes to climb on everything. She is thrilled to sit on top of the kitchen counter. She climbs on/off the couches and coffee table. A couple of days ago, I walked into the computer room to discover this:



She loves to eat. She will eat almost anything (including dog bones). She likes pomegranates and peaches and apples and string cheese and beans. She loves black beans. She likes corn and rice and cereal and pancakes.

She is learning more and more words:
hi-a (hi), Chesta (Chester), woof-woof or bow wow or erro( perro) for dog, (Notice she has 4 words for dog!), Wo, Wow, owie, ello (hello), mama, dada, Ella.
I think there are others, but these are all I can think of now.

She can sign "more" and "milk" and "food" and "sleep" (although I readily admit I'm no sign expert so I can't guarantee that sleep is the correct sign, but she does it when we say sleep, so it means sleep to her and us.) She shakes her head no and nods yes and points a lot. She also lets you know when she wants to be picked up.





She has developed a temper and a case of sibling rivalry with Ella (but not much with Michelle). If I hold Ella, she will walk over and hit Ella or me. A couple of times she has bit me. She is usually a happy, playful baby, but she doesn't like to share my attention.

She likes to play with toys...babies, phones, blocks on occasion or whatever toys her big sisters are playing with. I noticed that the other day she was using a calculator as a phone. She picks up the phone (or in this case calculator) and presses a button then puts it up to her ear and says "ello" "ello" over and over. So far that is the extent of her conversation, but it is still cute.



Tonight in the bathtub I was asking her to point to parts of her body and then I would point to my body to model. She could totally do it. I don't think she could do it without me modeling yet, but she is learning and picking up new things so quickly. She is darling... except when she is hitting and biting and screaming. :)