Signing Times n' Other Baby Milestones

Before I forget, I need to write this stuff down:

For her first notable sign, we're actually still trying to determine exactly what it means: She holds a pointed index finger upward, thumb extended out to the side, and then she waves her hand back and forth from the wrist, and does so very deliberately. She does this action most whenever the cats appear, or she sees a plane, and sometimes when she sees the angel boy-O's mommie, Wendy. It seems to mean 'look at that/them/her.'

Her 2nd recognizable sign was for 'more', pointing an index finger into the palm of her opposite hand... This is not what we taught her - - she learned this method at school.

3rd recognizable sign was for 'food/hungry,' inserting a baby index finger into her mouth, closing her lil' lips about her finger and then pulling her finger out of her mouth - - and she usually opens her eyes real big and wide when she does it = TOTALLY ADORABLE! We did not teach her this sign, but did have another approach, which she's never used. She came up with this on her own.

4th recognizable sign = the usual signing for 'milk'

5th/6th sign: She's trying reallllly hard to master her index-to-thumb pincher action, trying to sign 'bird'. She only began this effort a little over a week ago - - or at least that's when we finally caught on.

6th/5th sign: She's also trying reallllly hard to master the sign for airplane - - she LOVES airplanes!! I'd say kitties and airplanes are about tied right now. She always recognizes a plane's roar in the sky as they fly nearby or pass overhead when we're leaving her school, and she'll look around and point to the sky, and she can spot 'em like a lil' pro. For the last two weeks, she's been trying to use the sign for airplane whenever she sees one.

7th sign: This past week, she's been trying to use the sign for 'fish,' but it only looks like a casual one-swipe swap or low-waisted wave so far.

And tonight, for the first time, she put her palms together and opened them to sign 'book'!!! She was quite tickled when I squealed "BOOK" with delight!

She still refuses to use any kind of sign for 'drink - - she will only squawk and point vigorously in the direction of a glass, sippy cup, bottle, etc. Although at one point, we were convinced she was saying 'my bottle' in French and quite recognizably so.

Words she's speaking:

Update for her 1st word: Still no hard 'k' for book, but she says 'buh' all the time

Still 'Ba' most of the time, but now sometimes 'Ba ba' for bottle

'Bi-bi' for blanket or binky (NOTE: She only uses a binky at bedtime now or in the car.)

And exciting new behavior: Around Easter she began saying 'Gubba' - and over the last couple weeks, she seems to be using it to refer to her big brother, our angel boy-O, who she's been enthusiastically identifying in pictures for over 3 weeks, pointing him out with a lil' chubby baby index finger - - She first began pointing at his photos every time we head up the stairs and now, it also happens whenever we walk into her bedroom and turn on the lights - - there are two framed pictures of the two babes hung along the side of tall shelf that stands beside her light switch. And for the last week, if holding her in my arms while standing anywhere near the fridge, she about leaps from my arms in the direction of the fridge, wanting to point out every single picture of her brother posted on the freezer door (and there are 8 pictures of him!).

In the last two weeks or so, she also began to say 'kuh' for cat (no hard 'T'), and something much closer to dog, now a one-syllable 'duhg' with a realllly softly spoken 'g'.

And last week she began to point out images of cats/kitties, dogs, butterflies, ladybugs, birdies and frogs in her books.

She's realllly in love with the wooden creatures I've placed beneath the shelf that hangs above her diaper changing table, which she can look up and see while lying there (listed using my left to right, if facing the wall): butterfly, frog, ladybug and a dragonfly
She favors the ladybug and points to it first every time.

She has a light up ladybug, called the Twilight Ladybug (scroll down, down, down the linked page), and we call it the "starshine ladybug." Whenever she wants it, she'll point to the shelf where it's kept and will then point to the ceiling and back to the shelf. Smart lil' cookie, eh?

For over a month or more now, she'll point to her sweater or a jacket of hers, or full go on n' grab one, and she'll then point to the door that takes her out of the house. BTW, she loves the outdoors and loves to get out of the house! If she gets her hands on a jacket/sweater of hers and we won't/aren't going anywhere at that time, she'll start to squawk and will hold her jacket/sweater up to us as high as she can, sometimes waving it, insisting it's time to leave and now. She gets very excited whenever she gets her hands on her jackets/sweaters --very happy, very eager-- and she now hugs them and will then try to put them on by herself in her efforts to convince us she's ready to go-go!

She still a reallllly impatient eater. No change there. However, she now wants to feed herself ALL THE TIME. Only if she's ravenous, will she let me spoon feed her. Otherwise, she's totally hands on around mealtimes, and just last week, she began eating with a spoon without assistance! - - she's not real good at it yet, of course, but she loaded her spoon several times and the majority of it all made it inside her mouth.

I've been trying for several months to introduce her to the world of haircare. For a couple months now, she's been trying to brush her hair using a baby hairbrush (and with a dish scrubber just last night!), and she will also remove any hairclip I may put in her hair, immediately trying to return the clip to it's original position, but on her own, without my help. She gets VERY frustrated with her inability to make them stay, and again, she DOES NOT want my help for nuthin'! Sooo, no wearing of hairclips or bows yet --and she's never been a fan of those baby headband/bow thingies-- all of which is fine by me.

She grabs her toothbrush on her own, often without my reminding her, and she'll brush at her teeth and gums in the mornings, after bathtime, before bed, and any time she's in the shower.

And she's walking across entire rooms now, back and forth between walls. Over this past weekend, she just went for it... from no more than 5-6 unassisted steps a handful of times over the last two weeks, to 15 unassisted steps! 20 steps! and30! She's still very wobbly once upright and moving, and most of the time she winds up on all fours, crawling still, but she's about to become a full fledged biped! What I love is when she'll get her momentum really going and just before she gets too ahead of herself and loses it, she'll sometimes stop suddenly, standing still, wearing a huge, sheepish lil' grin on her face as she calms and regains full balance, and then she just explode forward, squealing with glee as she tries another go at it, falling sooner than later.