16m developments

Emily has just passed the 16 month old mark. Now's a good time to jot down a few notes on her latest "learnings".

Leading

In the last couple of weeks she's started taking me to where I'm needed - coming up and grabbing my little finger or trouser leg and pulling me in the direction I'm needed. It's usually to read a book.

Language

The current vocabulary consists of "Hello" (used in an echo manner - to check for response), "Mamma", "Pappa", "Nej" (used in disagreement - when she doesn't want to do something), "Quack Quack" (used for a variety of animals - but mainly ducks/birds) and "Cuckliecoo/cock-a-doodle-doo" (used with cockerels and also in a form of "geronimo - here goes!").

Humour/Burping/Growling

She's just started doing something to get a humourous response. It started with her laughing at burping - something Alice is good at - a few weeks ago. But now she imitates it herself - but in a pre-meditated audience capture. She'll call out 'pappa' and when I look around she'll do a half-burp/half-growl - which brings a laugh from me (if only because it's so pre-meditated.) The laughing triggers a bit of repetition...

So, to me it's fascinating how she's now 'performing' for laughs...

Shadows

Monday was a very sunny day. During a pre-lunch walk she discovered her shadow. She started following it for a bit then stopped. She did a 180 to see who was behind - no one. Then she glanced back over her shoulder - the shadow was now behind her - it hadn't changed direction. About turn, and carry on following...