Word Explosion

Our household has encountered a verbal explosion of words and sentences lately.

Ro and I have been waiting for these moments for a while, for when we could carry an actual, real conversation with Radha. And now it's happening! It's so much fun to hear Radha put words together, and sometimes the results are pretty hilarious. We have no idea where she heard some of the things, or where she got the concepts from, and others are fairly obvious.

Here is a sampling of sentences and phrases that Radha has been repeating a lot lately:

• Have a good day, Momma.

• Radha Simone Wiley-Sood is eating strawberrries.


• Mommy come too? Daddy come too?


• Let's eat the chocolate (pronounced CHALK-OH-LOT) Momma.


• This is the best book ever.


• It happens.


• Hop on the Dana! Hop on the Max! (reference to our neighbor's kids)


• I like broccoli trees.


• Baby Mook crying.


• Daddy driving to work. *makes sound of car driving*


• Ladybugs sleeping. (said during daycare when her class was exploring soil and looking at bugs and plants in the soil)


• Go away Momma! Go away Daddy! (usually said in fun when she wants one of us to hide and play hide-and-seek with her)

• You said it a long time ago.

• You said it, boys and girls!

• No problem! (said when pretending to talk on the phone with a real phone or her play "cell phone")

Of course, this list will only be growing, but we wanted to share a sampling of the word fun before we forget to document this fun stage.

Communication

(from Ro)

Radha's latest development spurt has definitely been all about communication. She's starting to talk, and also her non-verbal communication is coming along nicely. She's always been pretty focused on mental things more than physical, often preferring books over toys. Here's a snapshot of where she's at:

Words: Mama, Dada, cat, cheese, Baba (for her Grandpa), bath, lots of attempts to repeat what we're saying

Signing: "More", "Eat", and gesturing along to songs like Ittsy Bittsy Spider and 5 Little Monkeys

Body Parts she knows: Head, hair, fingers, toes, arms, eyes, ears, mouth, nose

Singing: Twinkle twinkle, 5 Little Monkeys

Animals she recognizes: Duck, dog, cat, cow, pig, sheep, snake, frog, fish, monkey

There's plenty more I'm forgetting!

"Cheese!"

Reflections on Radha's First Year

(from Ro)

I can't believe our little one has been with us for a year!  One of the first things I've discovered about being a parent is how time moves differently. Sometimes it seems like it has sped by, but other times the individual moments and the amount of changes we have been through make it seem like a lifetime.  For Radha, it has been a lifetime! There have been lots of good times and some challenging times. The good thing is that Terri and I have learned a lot about being parents, and about ourselves in the process.  No child or parent is the same, so all three of us are figuring out how we operate in our new family.

We've had so many great memories of the last year: all of our visitors, our trip to the coast, visiting the pumpkin patch, Halloween and Christmas. One big moment was the first night we put her in the crib to sleep on her own. It was one of the first of many bittersweet moments we're going to have as Radha starts gaining independence.  

Of course, the biggest joy has been watching her change and develop into her own person. Another lesson I am still learning is letting her develop at her own pace, and not to worry too much about what books say or what other kids are doing.  I'll post some stats after her one year appointment next week, but in the meantime, here's a rundown of some of her latest and greatest accomplishments:

- standing on her own while leaning on something

- rolling around the living room

- feeding herself finger foods and bottles

- saying "mama" and "dada", but not always to the right person

- patting herself on the stomach when we ask "Where's your tum-tum?"

- imitating us when we raise our hands above our head, or "dance"

- doing her "big girl laugh" like in the video posted earlier

- being generally hilarious at dinner time, so that Mom and Dad have to try and keep straight faces to try and get some food in her

Coming up next week - birthday posts!

In one corner, weighing in at...

Hard to believe Radha had a (light) weight issue when we left the hospital last month.  We took her into the pediatrician yesterday to get an official weight. 

As you can see, she was not too pleased with getting stripped down for this weigh-in.  But we were pleased to see how healthy and big she has grown, now at 10 lbs 2 oz.  Nearly a two pound gain since her last appointment a month ago!