14 point something months

Natalie is becoming more and more fun every day.  I'm not quite sure how else to say it, even though we've obviously always loved her deeply.  But from about 12 months to now (and hopefully continuing for quite awhile!), she has just blossomed.  She has so much personality: she is so funny and just cracks herself up, and with that big grin, she cracks everyone else up, too.  An example of her sense of humor: I asked her for a kiss, which she often does very sweetly.  She got a huge grin on her face, leaned in, and LICKED me! :)  Her little joke caused lots of laughter for both of us!

She is so smart, and she is learning new things all the time.  She imitates everything we say, and even though her sound repertoire is pretty limited, her attempts are recognizable imitations.  She loves oranges ("ball"), butter on her bread ("baba"), animal crackers, ("kaka") and her milk ("ma").  She's a big fan of our dog ("Ha-yee"), and her new favorite food is "ham," which she can say pretty pretty accurately, though with a hilarious staccato inflection, much like the way she says, "Mom."  She loves her "ey-yeys" (eggs) for breakfast, and she always, always, wants "up."  She often wants to "go" to the playground.  She asks for "ep" (help) whenever she wants something, which has been a nice substitution for whining and grunting!  She has begun talking in endless streams of baby babbling, which I don't think is meant to be words, but rather her just exploring her sounds.  I'm really hoping to get this on video some time.  One of my favorite words that she uses is "yesh" (yes), a la Michael Scott...it is so cute!  So thankful she hasn't learned to say "no" yet!!

 Natalie is also gaining some fun gestures.  She is a good mirror for us; we don't realize what we are doing until she mimics it.  For example, she often talks to me and responds to questions with her palms upturned.  Taylor pointed out that this is something I do constantly...I had no idea!  Also, when she wants to sit in our laps to read a book, she will pat our legs, just as we do when we tell her to come and sit with us.  The other day, we finally figured out why Natalie was pointing to her head at seemingly random times...it turns out that every time we told her something was "hot," she has been pointing to her head, apparently because we've been teaching her that a "hat" goes on her head.



She has started communicating that she wants to eat by putting her hand to her mouth, which is something she taught herself to do.  She is always wanting to try what we are eating, and we let her, most of the time, unless it absurdly unhealthy (not that we ever eat anything like that...ahem) or too spicy/acidic.  The most surprising food she genuinely seems to like?  Blue cheese.  Actually, I'm often very surprised at what she seems to like.

I suppose I should mention motor milestones, though I am obviously a bit more in to her speech and language!  She has begun to run, which is super cute and getting more and more stable.  She gets around pretty well, but she still has plenty of falls and loses her balance unexpectedly.  Her fine motor skills are improving, too: she can hold a writing implement and make lines with it, which is a fairly new skill for her.  



She is sensitive, and in a good way.  This is not to say that she always does the right thing when we ask her to, but as I try to find the age-appropriate way to discipline her, I have been struck by how little a harsh "no" impacts her behavior...but how strongly a serious talk about disobedience affects her.  The other day, as I was packing for a trip, I instructed her not to pull my clothes out of a pile on the floor.  This is a hard thing for Natalie, as her favorite thing to do seems to be taking items and putting them where they are not supposed to be. :)  She obeyed immediately, but when I returned to the room after leaving for a moment, I found my clothes strewn about, and Natalie had fled.  I found her, picked her up, and brought her back to the room.  In a serious tone, while holding her, I said, "Natalie, Mom told you not to mess up the clothes.  You disobeyed.  You should not have done that."  She burst in to tears!  This surprised me, as I thought she would require some kind of physical punishment, like a time out, to get the message.  I let her cry while holding her for a moment, as I thought perhaps it was good for her to feel bad about what she had done, and then told her it was okay and that I forgave her.  She calmed, and we went back to what we were doing previously.  It was a really telling parenting moment for me.