17 months.

maya @ 17 months :: april 4, 2007

• her vocabulary is definitely growing. towards the beginning of the month she started saying "tankoo" (thank you) to me when i handed her things. other new words: "shees" (shoes), "dish" (this), "ce-eal" (cereal), "m-k" (milk) and then she moos, "o [something something mumble mumble]" (outside), "cacker" (cracker), "ball," "go go." the sad thing is that she hasn't really said anything in japanese yet ... although i think she said something akin to "hana" (nose) and "alé" (that).
• it cracks us up when she mimics us, like when she repeated rupert's "unbelievable!" as "un-be-abo!" during a basketball game.
• she liked watching "march madness" with ian and rupert. she claps and says "go go!" when the crowds cheer.
• she is definitely more physical and confident than ian was at the same age. she's fearless on the big kid slides at the park, and while she figures out her limits she does always try to climb on park equipment and furniture at least once.
• she's a tricky little thing. for example, when i limited her crayon use to her high chair she started throwing the crayons on the floor and then asked to be put down so she could go pick them up and walk away. she's using my laziness against me, knowing full well that i don't always pick things up off the floor right away!
• new toys: little people figures (especially the princess carriage), slinky
• it makes me cringe but she likes to pull off the flaps on her books. sometimes she is so gentle with books and other times i can hear rrrrrrips from across the room. thankfully, she hasn't ripped too many actual pages out of books. her other favorite tearing activity is pulling out the subscription postcards from magazines.
• like a lot of babies she likes chapstick. one day i let her play with my mini maglight flashlight. she kept pulling at the top so i tried to teach her that you had to turn the top to turn the flashlight on. but she just kept pulling on it and then she started rubbing the flashlight on her lips ... like chapstick.
• i had to take her to my doctor's appointment with me and she was not happy when she saw where we were. it took a bit to convince her it wasn't shot time for her!
• drinking from a regular kid cup; most of the time she doesn't spill too much.
• wraps herself around your leg
• dora the explorer is becoming a favorite, even though we don't watch the show. we have rupert to thank for that; he bought some dora yogurt and started singing the theme song so now maya likes to say, "d-d-doa" and point her out (because she's everywhere!).
• i'm thrilled that she liked watching "tonari no totoro" (my neighbor totoro) in japanese.
• she is on litter patrol when she goes for walks. i have started carrying around garbage bags because i end up having to hold all of the garbage until we find a trash can.
• escaping from her rear-facing carseat is her new goal on our drives.
• nods her head "yes" but won't say it. "no," on the other hand, is like her favorite word.
• apparently she waves "bye bye" to the shishi (pee) when rupert flushes the toilet. i haven't seen this because she usually doesn't come with me when i go to the bathroom.
• maya and ian were taking a bath and rupert noticed she was in her unchi (poopy) position. he swiftly picked her up and tried to get her over the toilet but was a split-second too late and she ended up pooping mid-air onto the toilet seat and floor. glad i missed that!
• she plays outside a lot, especially if ian is in the yard. sometimes i'll leave the two of them outside while i wash dishes and she's completely content to explore on her own.
• i would almost consider her quick walking to be running, but maybe not quite.
• her balance is getting better so that she's almost able to get up little steps without holding on to anything. she's also starting to go up stairs on her feet instead of on her knees, but she still has to put her hands on the step above. at the bookstore the other day i turned around and found her climbing up the stairs of the "employees only" metal rolling ladder.
• likes to push her bellybutton and say "bin-bong." at first she said it while pointing at her crotch so we had to reteach her a more appropriate place to push.
• knows facial parts in japanese.
• she drools and sort of spits on purpose when she's frustrated or happy.
• is good at, and loves to, pull out the subscription postcards from magazines ... even at the bookstore.