Changes

As I mentioned in the previous post, Ben and I have both been off work for the past week due to the 4th of July holiday.  (Posts are still coming on several things that happened last week...but this was just such a crucial milestone that I had to post out of order.) We both agree that this past week has seriously been the week that we have seen the most changes so quickly in Mary Hyatt since she was born. Right after Mary Hyatt's birthday a friend with a toddler older than MH had told me to "Hold on. You are about to see drastic changes every month."  At the time, I don't think I realized just how true that statement would be.  Here we are just two weeks after Mary Hyatt's birthday and she is like a totally different baby.

 First of all, her walking has improved significantly.  She isn't doing that slow, baby waddle anymore.  She still has somewhat of a waddle, but she is off and running and so so fast.

 Her play skills are improving so much more as well.  She now holds up cell phones (toys and real ones) to her ear and pretends to talk on them. She is picking toys up and bringing them to us to show us or initiate some kind of play with us.  She loves on stuffed animals by hugging them. We recently let her look at the Ipad and she has already figured out how to do some of the very simple baby apps on it.  (more on that later).

She waves at EVERYONE.  Mary Hyatt is not shy at all.  She does not meet a stranger.  When we walk down the mall or in the grocery store, she starts waving at everyone.  This usually strikes up a conversation with someone and then Mary Hyatt will reach her arms out for the complete stranger to hold her.  She usually instantly turns right back to me or Ben to get her back, but still the fact that she is so willing to go to anyone surprises us all.

She has been waving for quite a while but over the past week I think she has really started to grasp what she is doing.  She now waves to greet even Ellie or Emma when she sees them in the morning.  She also waves "bye bye" to everyone.  When I picked her up from daycare today, the second I had her in my arms she turned to her teacher and waved and said "bye bye.'  

Just this week she learned to blow kisses at everyone.  She now adds that to her routine of saying "bye bye" to people.  It is the cutest thing and melts my heart every time.

 I think the greatest change this week is in her ability to communicate.  I guess being a speech therapist I have been overanalyzing every thing she has done.  I've been semi concerned because Mary Hyatt hasn't been "babbling" like I thought that she should be.  She would say things like "dadada" or "mamama" here and there but nothing was every consistent and we didn't really think she had any idea what she was saying.  It was more just vocal play, but still rare and inconsistent at that.  However, this week she has started using words consistently and with intent.

 She will now say "mama" and "dada;" still not totally consistent and not every time she sees us, but the way she says it and in the context that she says it, we know she knows what it means. Her most favorite word is "uh oh."  She says it EVERY single time she drops something, which is quite frequent these days.  The other day we were riding in the car and she dropped her bottle.  Literally for probably 3 minutes straight she said "uh oh" every few seconds to let me know that she had dropped it. Some other words that she says right now are "Emma," "Hey," and "Bye Bye."   

And just the other day she started signing "more" to us. Before Mary Hyatt was born, I had such great intentions of teaching her all kinds of signs and teaching her to communicate at a very early age.  However, when I spend a huge part of my day using signs continuously and striving to get preschoolers to communicate through repetitive activities, that was the last thing I wanted to do when I got home.  I would throw the sign for "more" in every blue moon, but never was consistent or routine with it, so I was totally in shock when she started doing it the other night during dinner. She still doesn't do it all the time consistently across contexts but she definitely knows what it means and will use it to request when she wants to.  I did happen to capture her doing it a few nights ago on video.  Excuse my annoying voice but you have no idea how this excited the speech therapist in me....

And while we are on the topic of communication, her understanding has also greatly improved this week.  We have been putting toys and books out all over the living room floor and will say "Go get the book," and she knows exactly what to go get.  She definitely understands "No" now and will stop what she is doing, or at least hesitate and glance back at us when we say "no." Whenever we say "I'm gonna get you" she starts taking off running the opposite way and giggling. If we say "Where's dada/emma/ ellie etc" she starts to look for them.  If we say "Where's Mary Hyatt?" she puts her hand in front of her face and then pulls it down.  If we say "Want to go outside" she knows to walk to the door. Anytime we pull out her shoes, she holds up each foot one at a time to help us put her shoes on.

 

I know there are probably several other little things or examples that I'm forgetting because I'm typing this so quickly but hopefully this captures some of the big things.  I sure hope every week doesn't change this much.  Though it is soooooo soo fun watching her change and nobody can describe the joy that Ben and I both feel when we see her do something new, I wish I could just freeze time and keep her little forever.  I know that's not possible though, so I guess I'll just continue to "Hold on. Here we go!"