16 months.

maya @ 16 months :: march 4, 2007

• pretty much walks everywhere she needs to get to. most days we walk home from dropping ian off at school. it's a good half a city block so it's pretty far. when we get to the corner of our block she knows where to turn into our driveway. if she wakes up from her nap in time we'll walk to pick ian up too. she's gotten very popular on these walks because she waves at everyone. she's not running yet but she can get around pretty quickly. she also likes to pick dandelions on our walks.
• stairs don't bother her either; she's crawling up and down them with no problem.
• tries to get down from her high chair by throwing one leg over the edge of the seat. she also thinks she can pull herself up into the highchair; she'll hang from the tray, grunting and groaning with the effort.
• loves to play with and point out balls. anything round or spherical is "bah," like the large red concrete spheres in front of the entrance to target.
• doesn't particularly like butterflies; she shakes her head "no" when i point them out to her.
• some of her new words: "dog," "book," "banana" (all three syllables), and the big one: "no"
• imitates sounds really well; she's clearly listening and processing sounds in her mind and trying to recreate the sounds with her own vocal chords. for example, ian was throwing himself on the couch saying, "1-2-3-jump!" maya was watching him and she did the same thing, without the actual words but with the same intonation and rhythmic sing-songiness of ian's voice. she even made four sounds, one for each word ian said, before throwing herself onto the couch cushions too. she continues to laugh the emperor laugh from lego star wars 2.
• down to one 2-hour nap around lunch time.
• she's always had gi problems and bowel movements have been very painful for her. lately, when she has gas pains she rubs her belly and gives us the saddest pathetic face because it hurts her so much.
• she pretends to pick off the moles on my face and pop them into her mouth. at first i was like "eww" and "stop!" because i'm so self-conscious about them (and hate that about myself), but after awhile i had to laugh because she doesn't mean any harm by it and thinks it's funny.
• pretends to read books, turning pages and making sounds. about a quarter of the time the books are upside down.
• when she hears the star wars theme and the imperial march her ears perk up and she moves her arms like she's conducting.
• helps put things like her toys away: "nai nai" (not to be mistaken with the night-night "nai nai"). she is in fact pretty good about placing things back where she thinks they go, like the remote control and my mom's purse and eraser. she'll also help throw things away: "poi poi".
• she plays basketball in the backyard with her baby hoop while ian plays bball on his big boy hoop.
• other fun stuff: she says "honk honk" and pushes your nose (she always ends with a rather painful pinch of the nose). i also started pushing her belly button while saying "pin pon" (japanese door bell ring), which she says as "buh-pon." at ian's french class they have a large blue bird painted on the wall so i showed her quacking/chirping movements with my hands. she picked that up really quick and likes to do it when she sees pictures of ducks and birds.
• likes to listen to my ipod shuffle with me. she pulls one of the earphone buds out of my ear and puts it up to her ear and grooves to the music.
• some of her favorite toys are little star wars figurines that belong to ian. not surprising that she often goes for the emperor figure. she also uses crayons to mark up paper (before she would just carry them around). she has been very good about only drawing on paper we put in front of her. hope she keeps that up!
• obeys simple requests like, "bring the blanket to mommy" and "take ___ to daddy."
• this is actually not something new but she likes to put things on her head with both hands. it could be a scrap of paper, a piece of cloth, a toy, whatever. she holds it, raises her hands and holds it on top of her head and gives you a big smile.