Fourteen months
The semester is very close to ending, so I have a few minutes to update while I drink my afternoon coffee (which is vital to power through the rest of the things I have to do this afternoon, which is the pile of shit that I've been avoiding while teaching because I don't want to deal with it!). Indeed, this might be the very first month since Annika was born when I did the update actually on the 24th!
Annika at 14 months is impressive in many ways, anxiety-inducing in others. Her motor skills (gross and fine) are all awesome - stairs are messy and she can't handle much perturbation to her balance, but overall, she's moving well, handling toys, and using a spoon (although in an unorthodox fashion, see video below). Her verbal skills, though, are less impressive. Maya had 30+ words and another 20+ signs by 13 months, and Annika is hovering around a dozen words (and maybe 5 signs) at 14 months: mama, dada, maya (ya-ya), owl (who-who), la la la (that damn book is equally loved by the second child, unfortunately), jay (easiest bird to recognize), Ginger (in-laws' dog), gentle, Ingrid (best friend at school), yum (mmmmmmm!), uh-oh, and new this week - NO. Plus, her ability to enunciate different sounds is awful, so she has a set of words that all sound like "duh duh" (Ginger, gentle, and Ingrid above, but also some others that husband doesn't count - dessert, maybe grandpa, some others - it's all unclear). There are some other sounds that she'll mimic, but are not used in context independently. In any case, it's way different from Maya busting out "butterfly" at 12 months. As far as I can tell, she's approximately where Maya was at about 11 months (and yes, yes, I know you're not supposed to compare) with a number of what I would call "early versions" of words.
Part of what feeds my anxiety monster is that she failed the pressure test at her most recent audiologist appointment for the second time in a row, most likely because she had (another) cold, but it means that we still haven't gotten great data on her hearing range. She passed her newborn test, but I want one good toddler datapoint too so that I know whether her ears are affecting her speech or whether she's just going at her own pace. I wish I was able to worry less, but I suppose that's just what most parents do! At least her anemia appears to be doing a bit better.
Maya, Annika, and I leave this Saturday to fly (alone!) to California, where we're both visiting my parents and enabling me to give a seminar at one of the UC's. In the interim, I have a masters student defending, I have three more final exams to proctor (I did one today), all of the exams to grade and final grades tabulated and submitted, and all of the packing to do - wish me luck! Then I need to actually write my talk....
Annika at 14 months is impressive in many ways, anxiety-inducing in others. Her motor skills (gross and fine) are all awesome - stairs are messy and she can't handle much perturbation to her balance, but overall, she's moving well, handling toys, and using a spoon (although in an unorthodox fashion, see video below). Her verbal skills, though, are less impressive. Maya had 30+ words and another 20+ signs by 13 months, and Annika is hovering around a dozen words (and maybe 5 signs) at 14 months: mama, dada, maya (ya-ya), owl (who-who), la la la (that damn book is equally loved by the second child, unfortunately), jay (easiest bird to recognize), Ginger (in-laws' dog), gentle, Ingrid (best friend at school), yum (mmmmmmm!), uh-oh, and new this week - NO. Plus, her ability to enunciate different sounds is awful, so she has a set of words that all sound like "duh duh" (Ginger, gentle, and Ingrid above, but also some others that husband doesn't count - dessert, maybe grandpa, some others - it's all unclear). There are some other sounds that she'll mimic, but are not used in context independently. In any case, it's way different from Maya busting out "butterfly" at 12 months. As far as I can tell, she's approximately where Maya was at about 11 months (and yes, yes, I know you're not supposed to compare) with a number of what I would call "early versions" of words.
Part of what feeds my anxiety monster is that she failed the pressure test at her most recent audiologist appointment for the second time in a row, most likely because she had (another) cold, but it means that we still haven't gotten great data on her hearing range. She passed her newborn test, but I want one good toddler datapoint too so that I know whether her ears are affecting her speech or whether she's just going at her own pace. I wish I was able to worry less, but I suppose that's just what most parents do! At least her anemia appears to be doing a bit better.
Maya, Annika, and I leave this Saturday to fly (alone!) to California, where we're both visiting my parents and enabling me to give a seminar at one of the UC's. In the interim, I have a masters student defending, I have three more final exams to proctor (I did one today), all of the exams to grade and final grades tabulated and submitted, and all of the packing to do - wish me luck! Then I need to actually write my talk....
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| Looking for birds out of dada's office window - and starting to look like such a little girl! |
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| She slept through the night last night, but mostly she's in my bed like this by the time we need to get going on the morning routine |
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| Maya with the unicorn I wouldn't buy her along the Ohio Turnpike this weekend |
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