Growing and Playing

Messy science with cloud dough and
kitchen equipment. 

Lulabee had her one year well-baby visit today (yes, she is still my baby). She weighed in at 19.45 pounds and is now 28 inches "tall." They still measure her by laying her down on the table and making tick marks on the paper, but she is now measured in height and not length :-). Joanna went with us because she is so invested in Lucy's life that she wants to experience and learn about every part of it. I warned her that some babies don't like shots, some babies hate shots and some babies think the world is ending when they get shots. Poor, darling Lucy, of course, is on the most sensitive end of immunization reactions and it is just awful...usually. I don't know if it is because she is older, because we created the perfect storm of outdoor play, a nap, a smoothie, milk and then the shots or if Joanna has magical powers, but this was, hands down, Lucy's calmest visit to the pediatrician in her entire year of life. She usually hates going even when there are no shots involved.

Pipecleaners and colanders with YoNanna.

Today she watched patiently as they pricked her finger and squeezed blood out for a hemoglobin test (13.7 out of 14 on the iron scale...yay!) and didn't even flinch when they gave her the second half of the flu shot. The MMR shot, which is apparently very painful not only on impact, but also the whole time going in, made her lose her mind. Then the most amazing part happened. She was calm within three minutes and playing with Joanna's hair clip, one of her favorite toys. Her leg is definitely sore where she got the MMR vaccine, but overall we had a lovely, playful afternoon and evening. I always leave at least 48 hours in our schedule to act as only Diddle Bee's mom after shots. I am grateful that she is taking these so well.

Dry noodles and an Amazon box so mum
can cook dinner. 

Not only is she healthy, but the pediatrician came just short of admitting that Lucy is a bit advanced for her age. I mean, Jim and I have known this since I got pregnant. After all, look at the two gene pools she was created from :-). The doctor was happy to hear about her varied diet, her sign language and pleased by her interactivity level. What can I say, we just may have a genius baby on our hands. Let's be real here. The kid can say "mum," "ada ada," "ck" (socks) and make a plethora of animal sounds, if not adapted for her genius size tongue. So advanced.

I don't always wear a hat, but when I do I
 wear three of them.

Lucy has mastered a number of signs which thrills me to no end. This has significantly improved our reciprocal communication abilities with her and she does not show much of the typical frustration that comes with trying to communicate and not being understood. Granted, she does not have a sign for everything she wants to say, so sometimes "push me on the bike" is more and "let's go play outside, mum" comes out as a milk/more/eat/milk/more/milk/eat. But she is totally willing to try to sign for us and almost always understand what she wants. This doesn't mean she always gets what she wants, however, it does mean we can acknowledge her communication. By the way, she uses these signs whether the conversation is happening in English or Spanish. Be still my little heart.

Sheppard's Pie Delight. Lucy can now stick food with a fork
AND put it in her mouth. I think this photo depicts how
advanced she is nicely :-).

Her signs so far:

• Milk/Leche 
• Eat/Comes
• More/Mas
• All Done/Terminaste
• Please/Por Favor (used when she wants something, like ride bike)

Lucy loves animals (so advanced for a one year old) and has sounds for a number of them at this point. Again, she makes the same sound whether you say the animal name in Spanish or English. We have Joanna to thank for this! Some of the animals have a movement, like arm-waving for a monkey and neck bending for a giraffe. What sound does a giraffe make, any way?!

• Cow
• Duck
• Horse/Zebra
• Pig
• Bird
• Snake
• Cat 
• Dog
• Fish
• Giraffe
• Elephant
• Rat/Mouse

All three of us continue to enjoy escapades in play. I wish I could ensure that all babies and kids got to experience play like Lucy does. It is both fun and meaningful in so many ways. This past week we had a play date with our neighbor, who we met in Lucy's old classroom. His parents are wonderfully brave and were excited about bathtub finger painting. It was messy and fun and a surprisingly easy clean-up. Macsen dove right in and got covered in paint immediately. Lucy was, as always, tentative and cautious until she warmed up to the fun. She ended up painting on both Macsen and his mommy.

Then they had a bath party to get washed up. Lucy thought it was so funny to find Macsen's feet through the red colored water. I am grateful that we are making connections with such great people so early in Lucy's life. She may not have specific memories of all of these fun times, but they all add to her vocabulary and prior knowledge which builds the foundation for future reading (and thereby academic success). Nothing is ever just finger painting when your mum is a teacher :-).