Developmental Milestones?

My blog posts generally consist of photos of Veronica and information about what we're up to as a family. What I realized a week or so ago is that I barely discuss any of the developmental types of things that Veronica is going through/experiencing. I read that at this age toddlers know an average of 20 words and I wanted to count how many she does know. She is crazy about animal sounds, do those count as words? As you saw in that video from a previous post, she knows the sounds a lot of different animals make. Let's start that list of words she knows. I will try to do it chronologically:
Mama
Dada (she said Da first, but she said it about anything and everything. When she says Mama, she means it.)
Hi
Bye
Shoes ("shooz" - she has said this quite well from the beginning)
Socks ("sah")
Ball ("baaah")
Baby (she LOVES to say baby, she has a little baby doll and she rocks her in her arms and says "baby!")
Balloon ("boo" or "boon")
Spoon ("pooh" - she loves to lift the spoon above her head and yell "pooh!")
More ("moh")
Dog (but then she stopped saying this in favor of Woof Woof)
Woof woof (dog)
Meow (cat - her version is ADORABLE)
Baa baa (sheep)
Moo (cow)
Nay nay (horse)
Sssss (snake)
Aaahhhrrrr (lion & tiger & bear - again ADORABLE, she really gets into the ferocity of it)
Ah ah ah (monkey)
Duck ("duh", quack quack is hard to say, but I think she said "qua" for the first time today)
Bird ("ber")
Bath ("ba")
Water ("ahw" - we know she means water because she does the sign for water when she says this)
Moon ("moo")
Lana (one of her classmates in daycare is named Lana, score for me!)
Book ("boo")
Car ("cah")
Grape ("bape")
Apple ("puh")
Poo poo
She can say red, blue, green and purple, but doesn't know what they mean yet. She loves to say purple, though.

Sign Language - It's supposed to help ease her frustration when trying to communicate with us since her fine motor skills develop earlier than speech. She knows:
Milk
More
Bath
Water
Hat
Cracker
Apple

She waves goodbye and hello and she loves to blow kisses and blink her eyes (beautiful eyes is what we say in Tagalog). She loves holding up a cell phone or remote control to her head and pretend she's talking to someone. She knows where her nose, eyes, ears, mouth and tongue are. She loves to stick her tongue in and out when you ask here where her tongue is. She knows where her feet, hands, and her arm pits (kili kili in Tagalog). She also holds her arm out when you're putting her sleeve on, and holds her feet up one at a time when you're putting her socks on.

AND, this past weekend she pointed to her diaper and said "poo poo". We checked her diaper and there was nothing, but a few minutes later, the telltale smell told us we needed to change her diaper. She had warned us she was going to poop! (Apparently this is a very big deal and a huge step towards potty training.) We praised her left and right, up and down, and told her it was wonderful she had told us beforehand and to always tell us. If she warns us again we're going to sit her down on her new potty, which we had bought earlier that day, what a coincidence. We know it's way earlier for potty training but we figured we just have it next to the toilet so she gets used to it. No pressure, though.

Faneuil Hall Christmas Tree Lighting

Last weekend we went to Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston to see the Christmas Tree Lighting (apparently, the 26th annual). We walked around town a bit with some friends who were visiting from Michigan, did some shopping, then made our way to Faneuil Hall at dark to see the tree lighting. It was a long day and Veronica held on just long enough to see the lights. I think we were more excited for her than she was about the entire thing in general, but she is only 14.5 months old. I can't believe she's just shy of 15 months already. Time is going by much too quickly.

Here is a photo of Veronica and her Daddy at the Public Garden in Boston:

And a photo of the Christmas tree and Faneuil Hall all lit up (they turned all the holiday lights on just after lighting the Christmas tree, it was very nice.):

For more photos from that day, click here.

Jose's Pics from This Weekend

Jose came to visit this past weekend so see Veronica and to help out with the kitchen renovations. He and Adrian assembled and installed all the kitchen cabinets in only 2 days! Amazing. The next step is getting the wiring and plumbing in, getting the counter top installed, and getting the appliances. So much to do. Jose took a few photos so I've attached them. Thanks so much for your help, Jose!

Fun with Magnets!

Here are a couple of photos from daycare last Wednesday. Veronica is so intent on her magnet! She's so curious about any thing new, I love it.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Infant Teachers
Date: Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 3:20 PM
Subject: Pictures 11/3/10
To:

Hello Again,

 

      Here are some pictures of all our friend's interacting and figuring out how magnets work! Once we placed the magnets on the floor everybody was very eager to pull and put together the magnets. We observed all of our friend's having a great time doing this!

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

Your Infant 2 Teachers

Lauren and Jonathan

Photos and Videos from June to Oct 2010

Hello Everyone! I have (finally) downloaded a bunch of photos from my digital camera. (The photos that make it on to the blog quickly are generally from my cell phone, since it's so easy to just email a blog post with the photo as an attachment. The photos from my camera take a few more steps to get posted.) Anyway, this is a boatload of photos from June until now, so here goes.

Strawberry and Pea Picking
In June we went to our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm to pick fresh strawberries and peas (three different kinds!). We also picked lots of basil and rosemary. Here is a photo of me with Veronica in the baby carrier:

Despite being still fairly light back then, it was pretty tough work stooping down to pick strawberries and peas with a baby strapped onto your back. My quads really felt it! Adrian did most of the work (as you can see from the piddly amount in my quart container). Veronica and I entertained ourselves with the hens and watching Daddy. The rest of the photos can be found by clicking here.

And here is a yummy video of Veronica enjoying a cone of rocky road ice cream after a hard day of strawberry picking:

Winchester Farmers' Market

At the end of July we moved into the house we bought in Winchester. We're still in the middle of lots of renovation so those photos will be coming a bit later. Winchester has a farmers' market in the summer and fall months that we love. The market is held in the Town Common and families park their strollers and set up blankets underneath the big tree in the center. The local music school sends a teacher to lead the kids in song and dance and sometimes there is a local chef doing food demonstrations. I have to admit, it's pretty idyllic. Here's a photo of Veronica enjoying herself in her car seat:

The rest of the photos from that day can be found by clicking here.

Eastham, Cape Cod

In August we spent a lovely long weekend in Eastham in Cape Cod. It was Veronica's first time at the beach and she loved it, as you can see by these photos:

The second day at the beach she took one of the longest naps ever. Beach naps are the best, aren't they? More beach photos can be seen by clicking here.

This video shows Veronica enjoying splashing in the water:

Here's another video in the water. Veronica seemed to only want one foot on the ocean floor at a time, kind of like the Karate Kid stance:

Veronica's First Birthday

In September Veronica celebrated her first birthday. We celebrated by throwing her a big party. We had lots of family and friends over and were so glad that both of Veronica's grandmothers could make it, both from out of state! There was a ton of food and a Hello Kitty birthday cake (of course). Everyone who came to visit helped tremendously with getting the house ready for the party. Thank you so much for your help! Here are a couple of photos from the party, the second one showing her blowing out her candle.

More photos from the party can be seen by clicking here. And here is a hilarious video of Veronica learning the ABC song, with my brother singing harmony:

Pumpkin Patch Visits

In October we visited the Winchester Pumpkin Patch twice. Adrian points out that it's not really a pumpkin patch, but that's what they called it so I'm sticking with it. Veronica had a marvelous time running around touching all the pumpkins. She's so mobile now it's difficult to keep up with her. Here are a few photos:

Veronica with Dumbledaddy:

New England is famous for its fall foliage, and this year's foliage did not disappoint. We had lovely foliage all over Winchester, even in our own backyard:

More pumpkin patch and fall foliage photos can be found by clicking Album #1 here and by clicking Album #2 here.

Penny's First Birthday

We have friends who have a daughter who is a few weeks younger than Veronica. She turned one at the end of October. Jose took a lovely family photo of us while we were at the party. More photos can be found by clicking here.

Halloween!

And what was Veronica for Halloween this year? Hello Kitty, of course! I figure I only have a couple of years where I get to choose her costume, so Hello Kitty it was. I found a hand-knit Hello Kitty hat and it wasn't hard to get a Hello Kitty dress. It was a bit nippy that day but I didn't want to cover up her costume completely so I put her in a little faux fur vest that's still a bit too big for her but did in a pinch. 

Winchester has a Halloween Parade which ends up in the middle of the town center. Then all the stores in town give away candy as the kids go door-to-door. The festivities end with a party in Town Hall complete with music and dancing and snacks. Veronica had a marvelous time. Here are a few photos:

Yes, I did get a hat for myself. I couldn't resist. The rest of the Halloween photos can be found by clicking here. 

They had a big blow-up pumpkin in front of Town Hall and Veronica loved it. Here's a video:

Adrian's Modern Theatre Opening

And, as promised, here are a few photos I took of Adrian's big day last week. Sorry the photos are so blurry! This is a photo of Adrian and Veronica with his boss, Chris:

This one gives you an idea of the theater space:

More of the photos of the evening can be found by clicking here.

Animal Sounds

And last but not least, last week while we were in the car on our commute, I got this awesome video. Veronica knows lots of animal sounds and she loves to repeat them. Also, she can can say "Llana"! To be honest, what she's really saying is "Lana", the name of another baby in her class at daycare. But I'll take it!

Adrian's Modern Theatre Opening

The project that Adrian has been working on for 3 years or so opened last night. Here are a few links to articles about it.

 

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2010/11/04/modern_theatre_brought_up_to_date/?page=full

 

http://www.wbur.org/2010/11/04/modern-opening

 

Adrian has worked so hard on this project and, I believe, is the main reason the design, construction and restoration were so successful. They basically had to take down the facade of the building, stone by stone, haul it to a yard for storage, tear down the dilapidated building completely, build a new structure that includes a theater and dorm rooms, then reconstruct the facade and restore it to it's former glory, stone by stone. As the Project Architect, Adrian was on-site constantly, putting out the most unbelievable fires and having to deal with the theater folks (drama!) and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and the construction company guys (needless to say, lots of different personalities with lots of different agendas), to mention only a few of the folks Adrian had to deal with. The opening was last night and there was a big party inside the theater. Veronica and I were so proud to be there with him. Marilyn Plotkins, the Theater Director, even gave him a shout out in her speech. The mayor of Boston, Tom Menino, was at the party and gave a speech as well. Everyone I talked to told me Adrian was amazing and even Adrian's boss was brimming with pride and happiness for him. We're super proud of him! I took a few photos, which I promise to post ASAP.

p.s. Veronica behaved SO WELL at the party and had a grand time dancing to the jazz band and sampling the passed hors d'oeuvres. I'm thinking she knew it was Daddy's special night.