16 months!

 This past weekend, our little Zoey rang in another month in her little life.  She remains a busy, mischievous, and happy little monkey.  Day to day it feels like she is learning and using new words and sounds and communicating in a whole different way.  It is exciting and a little nerve-wracking  and really wonderful.

At 16 months Zoey

*is THIS close to walking.  She takes steps daily and sometimes walks holding onto our hands.  It seems like the speed factor is especially fast on the crawling front.  She darts from room to room unpacking everything that can possibly be unpacked.  It feels like because she is getting very quick, we have had more worry with the mischievous ways she could possibly end up hurting herself.  Like: jumping on the couch and launching herself towards the coffee table, rolling around on our bed and forgetting where the end of it is, and getting fingers stuck in drawers and shopping carts.  She is getting better at turning herself backwards to try stairs but they still make me nervous.
*is imitating and trying words left and right.  Sometimes they come out of the blue, like she has been listening all along and just decided to say the word.  New words this month are: thank-you, cheese, cheerios, juice (even though she has maybe had 4 sips of juice in her whole life, she knows what it is, go figure), milk, cracker, lion, 1-2-3, sorry (I'll tell you a story tomorrow of how she learned that one, it's a good one), oh no!, YAAAAAY!, Mormor (short for Bestemor), and Mama (short for Grandma), she did say Far (when I was talking about going to see Bestefar but she hasn't repeated it since), and auntie.  Her correct and sweet use of "love you" is about enough to make me go bananas all over her.  I hope I can maybe get it on video one day soon.  If she is feeling especially cuddly she will wrap her arms around you and lay her head on your shoulder.  Sometimes she will give you a pat-pat on the back and if you ask her for a kiss, she will pucker up so get ready.
*shows us daily that there is music in her little heart.  If you ask her to sing you a song she will tilt her head to one side and just "ooooooooooooohhh" away.  She loves to sing the Wheels on the Bus and especially likes to join in on "The mamas on the bus go shhh shhh shhh".  Another recent favorite is Raffi's Baby Beluga although it comes out, "baby 'luga".    
*with our battles of being sick, we resorted many times to an afternoon of TV watching and kept cozy under blankets.  Her favorite little shows these days are Curious George and Finding Nemo.  Depending on the day she will point to the TV and "oo oo, ah, ah" like a monkey or say "NEMO!" to indicate her choice.  I think we are at the stage where I need new activities out & about or at home to make sure we keep the TV watching at bay.
*has had some restless days and nights.  I think it may be some more teeth (all 4 of her first molars are out) but boy, she has been anxious and a wee bit angsty.  We had some cold days so it can be hard to at least get out of the house and get some fresh air but we have had some outings this week which has been nice.  I'd love to get connected with a play group.  She has a blast with other kids and loves the interaction and play-time.  Her eyes will always scan the room to find me but she loves a good party!  Every day it seems, my little Zoey is shedding her baby skin and a goofy, energetic, silly, and lively little girl is showing her bright colors.  We love you our growing gal!