Thanksgiving Preschool Program

The other night Everly had her Thanksgiving program at pre-school.  It was just about everything I could have wanted, and yes, my outgoing child was the only one in her class not to say her name on the microphone.  But that's okay, I couldn't stop smiling at my little pilgrim girl.  Also, seeing her with her little friends, heart melted completely.  When she found out that we were getting to bring Nona and Grammie to school to she exclaimed, "this is SO exciting!".

Thanksgiving Program LMS from Lyndsay Lewis on Vimeo.


Song: "Pennies from Heaven" by Louis Prima [Everly's favorite song from Elf]

oh hey, I'm ONE [18 months]

A year and a half!  That's a mini milestone, and will hopefully stop mom from telling everyone exactly how many months old I am for a bit!  Seriously, I don't think they care.  And if they don't have kids themselves, they just look confused.

Yesterday I had my 18 month check-up and I am officially weighing 19 1/2 pounds putting me in the 11th percentile for weight.  Which is exactly what I was at my 15 month checkup percentile wise, and mom was SO happy about that.  After all of my "weight loss viruses" I was knocked down with in April, I ended up gaining all of it back and then some!  Maybe some of the giant slices of pizza I eat are sticking finally.  Water is still my preferred beverage of choice.  I had my first milkshake this past month, a mint cookie shake from Pinkberry, and I helped my dad drink a good portion of it.  Oh, and cucumbers were pretty awesome this month too. 

This month I've fallen in love with the mysterious bubble. Bubbles are amazing. I chase them, pop them, dance with them, and through them, and have even blown some of my own this month (which is harder than it looks people). 

I'm rocking words that start with the "bah" sound. Ball, book, and boobie [bub-bub] are all sounding pretty similar at this point, but with a little context, everyone seems to figure out what I'm talking about.  I've also mastered baby, and I love pointing them all out!  No is still my favorite word, and pretty much rules my conversations with people. I've mastered the sign for more, and even started signing thank you, and mom says also it looks like I'm blowing kisses, which seems to be okay at this point too. My babble sentences are getting very intricate. I've decided that when my voice, sounds, and volume are different when talking, the story is just more interesting. So I'll keep at that and let you know next month if I'm speaking English yet. 

Here's to another awesome month of pigtails, pearly whites, and leg hugs & kisses. 

-everly mae

Everly babbles

I've decided that children of teachers have it hard.  I'm pretty sure only the babes of children physiologists have it harder.   On one hand, it can be very beneficial having a parent all wise in the workings of children, their development, and milestones, but on the other hand, I think we may be "harder" on some things.  So far, I can tell that my teacher-ness is making me different than my non-teacher mom friends when it comes to the milestone of the ones, talking.

We have been very lucky that Everly has always been a talker.  Babbling, cooing, and getting on the whole dadadada word pretty quickly.  But here's my thing, just because she mimics a sound, doesn't mean she is saying the word.  And here is where my craziness begins.  To say that she is saying certain words means she is saying them with intent.  So when she was saying dada to the wall, the coffee table, and her daddy, well, I wasn't considering that a word.  And now you are probably seeing what I mean that parents are going to be so different depending on their backgrounds and professions.  For me, language is huge, and only once used within context will I classify the sound as a word for Everly.  I know, poor child of a middle school English teacher.  But hey, the good thing is she will be too little to know that mommy didn't count every noise that resembled a word.  And come on people, your three month old baby is not saying their name, really.

So at 14 months, this is what Everly is saying:

dada
mama
dog [even if she just hears one bark she's got that one down, and I'm impressed, and was definitely the word I would classify as her "first", and no, we don't even have a dog]
cat
up
down
go [used with Luna on the daily, she is always bossing this poor kitty off the bed, or sofa, or anywhere really]
hi
bye

she is mimicking:
duck
the crazy sound her stuffed monkey makes
truck
any weird noise or song I come up with
gigi [her name for one of her great-grandmas, and apparently it was a good nickname because she's almost mastered it]
and when listening to music she makes a lip syncing motion with the song, it is priceless

So far we have been able to figure out exactly what the little lady wants, she is very clear when pointing at something and making her "uuuhhhh" sound that tells us "parents, this is the thing I need, right now"

And let's just also put it out into the universe that the milestone comparing is stressful.  Her first year it was all about her size, percentile, and all that junk.  Well, the conversations then quickly move to walking and talking.  I hear all the time 'so what words is she saying these days', and man, if I had to go through another year of not having anything to say, I would be a wreck.  So thankfully she may be tiny, but she's got a lot to say.  I'm also thinking I will keep this in mind when talking to other moms, if we aren't having a conversation about our children's "words" then I probably won't pry.  Because the bottom line is our children will all get there, sure my kid is going to be in a car seat until the fifth grade, and yours might not speak until they are four, but I bet they will both be talking and riding with only a seat belt by high school graduation, and that is all that matters ;)

mom blogger note: while writing this post my daughter poured out my entire water bottle on the carpet, and then was playing in the puddle of goodness, soaking her entire outfit and diaper