The Ellie Development Curve Part2

Oomph!  I am a little belated on posting this.  We have been busy enjoying the gorgeous weather and going on park playdates.  Nothing like a little Vitamin D and good friends to brighten the soul! (and wear out the toddler Bear)

Anyway, development.  For introduction and part 1, click here.

Speech/Cognitive:

There are “watchers” and “doers”.  Ellie is a doer.  She is always moving and trying new motor skills.  She does not have time for the other stuff unless she is eating.  Hence, I have started working on our speech exercises while Ellie is in her highchair.  There, in her highchair, she will watch.

We are still doing the letter flashcards of “b”, “d”, “m”, “w”, and “p”.   I wrote about these many, many moons ago (apparently in June 2010). We are really working on the “W” and “P” as she has not made these sounds yet.  I do see her making mouth movements as though trying to immitate so I am hopeful that one day soon she will say “puh” or/and “wah”.  There is a lot of “Wah-Water” from me and “Wah-Whataburger” from Andrew.  I am relatively certain that Ellie will say water before Whataburger although, they do have scrumptious burgers on Texas toast.

Recently, I introduced these touch-and-feel flashcards to Ellie.  Blame Kelle Hampton.  I was using regular cards, but there was no motivation for Ellie to do anything other than chew them.  Fuzzy patches, rough spots, glitter wheels all attract a toddler’s attention.  I can show three cards and she can pick out the fish, bear, and ball.  She gets confused about the dog and cat--she looks around for Sophie & Amelie.  See, she knows dog and cat!

Jan mentioned creating cards for "matching up" by taking pictures of things from around the house.  So here is my latest project with the help of photobucket.com:

Isn't he handsome and dreamy?  

There is also a lot of singing.  Poor Ellie (and Andrew) must listen to me sing songs in my off-key voice about everything--riding in the car, socks & shoes on our feet, in the bucket, etc.  Yes, I make them up.  They are repetitive.  They get stuck in my head.  They get stuck in poor Andrew’s head.  Yet, Ellie has learned to do certain behaviors and expect certain things when I sing the above songs.  Ie, she sticks our her feer for “socks on our feet” and she puts toys in containers when I sing “in the bucket”.  

These crack me up.  Baby Nikes!  Size 3 (that means small feet for 18month-old).
These hard sole shoes are supposed to prevent Ellie from pronating her feet.
Yep, they keep her from pronating alright for she can barely walk in them!

Fine Motor/Cognitive:

Toys are typically thrown, chewed on, or banged together.  A toy that many children figure out immediately must be taught to Ellie.  There is a lot of hand-over-hand behavior and a lot of repetition.  I will repeat that.  A lot of repetition.  A lot of repetition.  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.  

Ellie cracks me up because when she is first learning about a toy, she grabs my hands and puts them on the toy because she wants it to light up or make noise.  Apparently, Mommy's hands are magical.

Okay, this photo is gross motor.  Ellie is a climber!   Yay Ellie!  That being said, she nearly gave me a heart attack.  She climbed up the stone hearth and moseyed on behind the play-yard.  Eek!  I aged 10 years right then and there!  Visions of Toddler concussions danced through my head!

Our Fine Motor Brag: Last week at music class, the Bear-Bear finally got the drums!  She used the drum stick to hit the percussion instrument.  She, of course, taste-tested the stick, and then banged it in tune to the music.  She is musically gifted.

She has also decided to try feng shui in the baby jail.  Notice her stacking the IKEA bins.  She was standing on the bins to reach the back of the shelf.  She is problem-solving.  Hence, she is a genius!

Whew!  What a long post.  Signing off now.  Night!