Language and non-verbal communication, 18.5 months

Over the past month or so Cameron's language and non-verbal communication skills have kind of exploded. It is so much fun to watch! It is getting hard to remember and keep track of all the things she is doing so I wanted to get it all down in a blog post.

GESTURES & ACTIONS
When asked Cam will do the following:

• Blow kisses
• Give high fives
• Wave bye-bye (she also does this without being asked in the appropriate situations)
• Brush her hair (go find her brush and *try* to brush her hair)
• Ride her elephant (if I tell her "go ride your elephant" she runs over and gets on her rocking elephant)
• Point to her nose
• Point to her belly
• Clap
• Dance
• Find the baby (run to the mirror in her room and point to herself)
• Bring me a book
• Put her arms up (when taking off her shirt I'll say "arms up!" and she puts her arms up)
• Come here (of course only when she feels like it)
• Give me something (I'll say "can I have that?" and she gives it to me)
• Shake shake shake (gets her maracas)

PROMPTED WORDS

Cameron understands the meaning and will say the following words when prompted:

• Night night *nyny* (I say "want to go night night?" and she says night night)
• Belly *bebby* (I ask her "where's your belly", she points to it and says belly)
• Nose *no* (I ask her "where's your nose", she points to it and says nose)
• Clap *clap* (when I ask her to clap she will clap and say the word clap)
• Dance *dah* (when I ask her to dance she will dance and say the word dance)
• Shake *shik* (when I tell her to shake her shakers she shakes them and says shake)

UNPROMPTED WORDS

Cameron says the following words without prompting in the appropriate situations:

• Doggie *doddee*
• Dada *dada*
• Mama *mama*
• Baby *baby* (when she sees herself in the mirror)
• Ball *bah*
• Bye bye *bah bah* (she says this if I am putting on her coat or someone is opening a door)
• All done *ahda* (she sometimes says this when she is done with her food)
• Nana *nana* (for banana, this one is questionable)

I think she is doing great and is just where she needs to be. It's a lot of fun teaching her words and actions and seeing her language and communication develop. She is getting a lot better at trying to tell us what she wants (pointing at items she wants, going to the fridge/high chair when she is hungry, saying my name when I have an object that she wants, etc). They say at this age a child understands most of what is said to them and I feel like that is true. They also say that up until a certain age (maybe 3?) only 50% of what toddlers say is understood by others. It's interesting how parents can pick up on words that other people would never understand. For example, when Cameron says "doggie", she really says "doddee", so it kind of sounds like "daddy" but we know what she means. She says it SO consistently every single time she sees the dog that I am sure that's what she is saying. Plus when she actually says "dada" it sounds different than her words for doggie. Anyways, I may end up doing this type of post monthly depending on how fast she is making progress. Like I said earlier it's getting harder to remember what and how many words she has and I would like to keep track of it so I can look back.

Happenings lately

We have been busy over here! Here is what's been going on.

The weather has been getting nicer and Cam has been getting outside!! She is loving it. She throws a temper tantrum as soon as we start walking towards to the door to the house because wants to stay outside. Then when we're inside she walks over to the doors and bangs on them because she wants to go back out. I never knew how much easier life would be with a toddler once going outside was an option. Cam loves walking and running around as she pleases, going to the park, and going on bike rides. There is so much more to do to keep her entertained. Here are some instagram photos from our activities outside:

We took a walk down to the lake to admire! I love living so close to the beach.

Cameron is always walking ahead of me!

Walking in the street. Little girl, big world. (We have no sidewalks but get almost no traffic on our street)

Swingin'

Comparison from last summer! Crazy.

Grilled cheese at our favorite restaurant, Jake's on the Lake. We took a bike ride over there.

Ready for a bike ride!

The other thing that has been going on is some sickness! Yuck! Cameron has had a very mucous-y cough for over a week now. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and she was wheezing so she was prescribed albuterol breathing treatments 4x a day. She is actually doing quite well with her treatments! At first she was very unhappy but now I just put on a movie and she sits and watches while I hold the mask over her face. It's been a couple days and the cough doesn't seem much better so we will probably end up back at the doctor. Her pediatrician is hoping it is simply acute bronchiolitis and not the beginnings of asthma. Asthma is very common in micro-preemies because of the disruption in lung development so we will see. I would be sad if Cam had astham because of prematurity but it's not the worst diagnosis in the world. Who knows whether her current lung issues are a results of prematurity or not. Either way it doesn't bother Cam! She is as happy and active as ever!

Hanging out in the waiting room for the doctor.

Meeting her new nebulizer "ClawDia"!

Getting a breathing treatment and cooperating like a big girl :)

In other news I went back to work. I am only working two days a week so I don't miss out on much time with Cameron which is good. Otherwise we are just enjoying life and the weather!

18 months

Cameron is a year and a half old! So crazy.

Actual age: 18 months

Adjusted age: 15 months

Weight: 22 lb 9 oz

Height: 29.5 in!

Diaper size: 4

Clothing size: 18 months

Medications/medical concerns: Cam still has the rash on her face. We are also treating a raging double ear infection :( she is on antibiotics though and getting much better.

Sleep: She sleeps from 8 until 8 or 9 in the morning. She naps from about 1 to 2:30 or 3. This has remained pretty constant for a while.

Eating: Not eating as well. She is refusing stuff she didn't used to refuse. She still loves fruit though. Bananas, mandarin oranges, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, and grapes. She could eat only fruit and be happy. She has also been loving ham and cheese. And she will always eat pasta! Just like her mom.

Developmental milestones: Not much new is happening. Still babbling like crazy and saying some words. No real new words though. She is getting faster and more stable with walking. She is starting to run a little bit. She is also really starting to remember more things and has better problem solving skills. She can do simple puzzles and remembers what pages of books there are textures for her to feel. She understands a LOT now. I can tell her to "go ride your elephant!" and she goes and gets on her rocker or I can tell her "bring me the book" and she will go get a book to read with me.

Teeth: Still 8 officially, but unofficially 10. She has two molars on the top that are starting to break through. Some of the corners are either broken through or just seconds away from breaking through. She also has her two bottom molars coming in but they are not as far along. I can see where they are coming up in her gums.

Best moment this month: Taking Cameron to her first swim lesson! I really enjoyed it and she has a BLAST! I am excited to be able to take her every week. She absolutely loved the water.

We had her 18 month appointment today as well. I will update on that later but it went awesome! She is so amazing.

Puzzle

To an adult, the following puzzle seems so simplistic. To a toddler, this takes a lot of cognitive maturity and understanding of problem solving. I am so proud of my little girl! She is SO smart!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsV2Xkvnrnc

Parents of Preemies Day

Today is the 2nd annual Parents of Preemies Day sponsored by Graham's foundation. It is a day to celebrate parents of preemies. I am lucky enough to be one of those parents. Lucky? Of course I'm not "lucky" to have gone through the heartache, but frankly I am lucky to have grown from the experience. Some of the lessons I have learned are invaluable. Cameron has shown me true strength, taught me true love. She is the best. Really and truly the best.

Photo dump

Cameron's smile is so contagious. I've never seen such an awesome smile! Honestly. I have a hard time narrowing down photos because her smile is just a bit different in each picture and I love it so much! Anyways, here are the latest. They are adorable.

17 months!

Cameron is 17 months old!

Actual age: 17 months

Adjusted age: 14 months

Weight: 21 lb, 13.3 oz

Height: Measuring to the best of my ability, 29 inches

Diaper size: 4

Clothing size: 18 months

Medications/medical concerns: The eczema is getting worse on Cameron's face. We are keeping it under control with intermittent use of the steroid cream and Aveeno eczema therapy lotion. The lotion makes it much more "mild", but it is still present. The steroid makes it go away completely but we can't use that long term and when we stop using it there is a "rebound" affect, where the eczema comes back worse than when we started using it. So for the foreseeable future I will ONLY be using the Aveeno lotion.

Sleep: Cameron goes to bed between 7:30 and 8, and wakes up between 8 and 9. She naps from about 1-2:30 or 3.

Eating: Cameron has her three meals and a snack. She loves bananas, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, mandarin oranges, and peaches. Veggies are quite touch and go at the moment. Carrots are always a sure thing but the rest are day to day. She also likes chicken, egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter, goldfish, animal crackers, fruit snacks, and cereal bars. She drinks between 1 and 1.5 sippy cups full of milk per day which is an improvement.

Developmental milestones: Cameron is now walking 100% of the time. She does not crawl at all anymore. She is also standing up on her own (without pulling up on something) by pushing off of the floor. Her balance is great and she doesn't really fall unless she trips on something. On the talking front, she has words!! It sounds like she says doggie, dada, mama, milk, clap, dance, and bye bye. She says bye bye for sure while waving. I would call that her first official word. She seems to know that I am mama and that Josh is dada. She will say the word clap while clapping, say the word dance (DAH!) while dancing, and repeat the word milk when I give her her sippy cup. She will point to her nose if I ask her "where's your nose?" (not all the time, but when she feels like it). Like I said, she waves bye bye whenever I ask her to, along with the word. She seems to point to Penny and say "dah-da!" which I'm pretty sure is her version of doggie. She will hand me something when I ask her for it. So her communication is really coming along! I am really happy.

Teeth: 8! She got two more bottom teeth. So now she has all four front teeth on both the top and bottom. Her gums might be swollen around some incoming molars but I really don't know.

Best moment this month: Nothing specifically. It's been one if those months where nothing really specific happened. But Cameron has REALLY grown this month. There have been a few moments where I am just kind of smacked in the face with her new found toddlerhood, she becomes more and more beautiful every day, she becomes more of a personality and just a unique character. I have absolutely loved watching her grow this month. So my best moments were those moments where I looked at her and thought oh my, she is seriously a toddler. A unique, head strong, smart, gorgeous toddler, her own real person. It really is amazing watching a baby become a person (if that makes any sense).

This was my absolute worst blogging month and I am sad about it. There have been so many moments where I want to blog but Cameron keeps me too busy. But in the future I vow to blog at least once a week!!!