Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
18-19 months: Verbal explosion!
Alyssa has been delighting us with her rapidly-advancing language skills lately! First, she learned "and" and "both": "Alyssa, what types of drinks do you like?" "Apple juice and milk and lala [water] and Big Bird juice, both!"
Then, she learned "not." In addition to telling us what things are, she now tells us what they are not. Like when we turn on music: "Claco [classical]! Not rock roll. Not Dido. Not jazz," each "not" accompanied with a rigorous head shaking.
And possessive forms. "Alla'ss bear. Not Mama'ss. Not Dada'ss. Alla'ss," making more of an 's' than a 'z' sound.
Then there's "you mean," which is really cute. "Okay, time to change your diaper, Dada's going to take off your parachute!" "You mean, pants!"
She's been joking with us, too. We'll point to a picture in a book, and ask, "What color is the dog?" - it's clearly brown, and she knows it. Alyssa's answer: "Purple!" "That's not purple!" we say, and Alyssa laughs as if we fell into her verbal trap. She'll eventually reveal the correct color, in a more serious tone.
We've taught her a bunch of flowers, and she can correctly identify and say (sometimes in her own dialect, but she's saying it) lilac, daffodil ("daff-dil"), dandelion ("dan-li"), iris (very clear!), bleeding heart ("beedee HOT!"), andromeda ("an-drilidli"), and rhododendron ("ro-den-da"). Without even looking at one of these flowers, you can ask her what color it is and she knows. "What color is a daffodil?" "Yeyyow!"
And a firetruck says, "vroom vroom vroom, honk HONK!"
Then, she learned "not." In addition to telling us what things are, she now tells us what they are not. Like when we turn on music: "Claco [classical]! Not rock roll. Not Dido. Not jazz," each "not" accompanied with a rigorous head shaking.
And possessive forms. "Alla'ss bear. Not Mama'ss. Not Dada'ss. Alla'ss," making more of an 's' than a 'z' sound.
Then there's "you mean," which is really cute. "Okay, time to change your diaper, Dada's going to take off your parachute!" "You mean, pants!"
She's been joking with us, too. We'll point to a picture in a book, and ask, "What color is the dog?" - it's clearly brown, and she knows it. Alyssa's answer: "Purple!" "That's not purple!" we say, and Alyssa laughs as if we fell into her verbal trap. She'll eventually reveal the correct color, in a more serious tone.
We've taught her a bunch of flowers, and she can correctly identify and say (sometimes in her own dialect, but she's saying it) lilac, daffodil ("daff-dil"), dandelion ("dan-li"), iris (very clear!), bleeding heart ("beedee HOT!"), andromeda ("an-drilidli"), and rhododendron ("ro-den-da"). Without even looking at one of these flowers, you can ask her what color it is and she knows. "What color is a daffodil?" "Yeyyow!"
And a firetruck says, "vroom vroom vroom, honk HONK!"
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Singing, dancing, and counting
We have some new videos of Alyssa to share. In the first video, Alyssa shows off her dancing skills. She says that she likes to dance to jazz, but apparently this isn't her jazz dance. Alyssa can ask for her favorite types of music by name, and she can identify them when she hears them: jazz, rock-roll, Billy Joel ("baba joel"), Rusted Root ("ruhruh root"), Dido, and more.
Alyssa can also fill in the words to various songs, like Old MacDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. We took this video just before bedtime, which is why Thumby is one of the supporting characters.
Alyssa can count up to two, and likes to describe her world in 3-word sentences. "No sock Mama!", "Dada at home", "Alah cat shirt." What else... oh, she takes after her dad: she is really hard to wake up in the mornings. Sometimes, when trying to touch, sing, or move Alyssa awake, the only thing that really works is saying something that disagrees with her world view. "Look Alyssa, Dada's not wearing any socks!" That wakes her up in an instant! (and sometimes gets her out of bed so she can grab a pair of socks from the laundry and bring them to Dada!)
Alyssa can also fill in the words to various songs, like Old MacDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. We took this video just before bedtime, which is why Thumby is one of the supporting characters.
Alyssa can count up to two, and likes to describe her world in 3-word sentences. "No sock Mama!", "Dada at home", "Alah cat shirt." What else... oh, she takes after her dad: she is really hard to wake up in the mornings. Sometimes, when trying to touch, sing, or move Alyssa awake, the only thing that really works is saying something that disagrees with her world view. "Look Alyssa, Dada's not wearing any socks!" That wakes her up in an instant! (and sometimes gets her out of bed so she can grab a pair of socks from the laundry and bring them to Dada!)
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Holidays and New Year
Alyssa continues to do well - her eating (and keeping food down) is improving, with occasional lapses. She's around 18.5 pounds. And having avocado 4 times a day must be some kind of brain superfood.
We're constantly amazed at the words she knows without having been formally taught them (When asked, "Where's your blue bracelet?", she makes a pondering, "Hmm?", then goes off and finds it), as well as her ability to understand things and do what we ask. Her vocabulary is large enough that we've lost count. Today, she saw a Pillsbury Dough Boy doll in the kitchen and exclaimed, "Snowman!" (which sounds more like "no-nan"). She's starting to learn her colors, pointing out the orange, green, and blue stacking rings that she was wearing as bracelets. She's also starting to string words together: "Bye bye, dada" (even "bye bye, dada hat!") and, "cut nana!" (cut banana) or, "mama cut!" (that's what we do in the kitchen - we cut).
Here she is enjoying bubbles. She's asking for "more" with her hands.
Alyssa didn't like the first snowfall of the season, but she really enjoyed the second one.
We went to Connecticut for Christmas - our first long trip in a year. Here she is with her Great Grandma:
In the photos below, you might think that we had one picture of Alyssa that we cut-and-pasted in to each photograph - what an unwavering expression. But as you can see, "Aa aa aa" is in a different position in each photo. Here she is with Grandma and Pete, Aunt Cheryl, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob.
Here's a photo from earlier in December with Oma - and a cute smile.
We're constantly amazed at the words she knows without having been formally taught them (When asked, "Where's your blue bracelet?", she makes a pondering, "Hmm?", then goes off and finds it), as well as her ability to understand things and do what we ask. Her vocabulary is large enough that we've lost count. Today, she saw a Pillsbury Dough Boy doll in the kitchen and exclaimed, "Snowman!" (which sounds more like "no-nan"). She's starting to learn her colors, pointing out the orange, green, and blue stacking rings that she was wearing as bracelets. She's also starting to string words together: "Bye bye, dada" (even "bye bye, dada hat!") and, "cut nana!" (cut banana) or, "mama cut!" (that's what we do in the kitchen - we cut).
Here she is enjoying bubbles. She's asking for "more" with her hands.
Alyssa didn't like the first snowfall of the season, but she really enjoyed the second one.
We went to Connecticut for Christmas - our first long trip in a year. Here she is with her Great Grandma:
In the photos below, you might think that we had one picture of Alyssa that we cut-and-pasted in to each photograph - what an unwavering expression. But as you can see, "Aa aa aa" is in a different position in each photo. Here she is with Grandma and Pete, Aunt Cheryl, and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob.
Here's a photo from earlier in December with Oma - and a cute smile.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)