15 Months +

I declare, every time I sit down to write about Victoria, her milestones and her getting older, I immediately think of how humbling it is that 1) I actually have a child, 2) that it's been only a breath of time since the day I first laid eyes on her, and 3) that she has grown as much as she has in such a short duration.  That a tiny wee babe can learn to crawl, walk, talk, gesture intelligently, feed herself, and help with an array of little tasks (like putting her clothes on, wiping her face) in but a twelvemonth is, I think, quite a miracle.

15 Months Old!

My wee babe has entered her fifteenth month, on the 26th of September.  She is now wearing "big girl" shoes (after a summer of going pretty much barefoot all the time), is nearly grown out of 18 month clothes, and attempting to repeat everything she hears.  Fun stuff.

For us, our most exciting development is the fact that we discovered that her little "Your Baby Can Read" video and flash cards are actually working.  Yes, indeed, our baby is reading!  Sort of.  :)  Haha!  I won't flatter myself that she is truly reading -- not phonetically at least -- but she is memorizing words at a good rate, it seems.  I know it sounds like I'm bragging...I don't mean to, really.  I just got rather excited when I held up the flash card for "kick" and "cow" and "arms up" and "clap" and "wave" -- and she finally read them back to me instead of just staring blankly at them.  Sometimes, she would add the action to the word and would clap, wave or moo...  It was kind of a thrill!  It's proof, I suppose, that she really is picking up on early learning.

Red hair!

We bought the "Your Baby Can Read" system mainly because it allowed her to watch something truly educational while I cooked dinner or did other chores that were difficult to do with her underfoot.  We still read to her regularly, and did even before we bought the system.  The kit also had flash cards and game cards, which I thought could only be beneficial during playtime.  We figured a lot of early learning is memorization anyway, so it wouldn't hurt.  We didn't really expect Victoria to pick up the words so easily.  At any rate, it's a head start to when we begin working on reading phonetically.

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So the weather has now begun to turn a little chilly here in central Texas.  (That would probably translate to "unseasonably warm" for my readers up in the northern states.)  :)  I've been attempting to finish that navy polka dot dress with the white braid trim for the December reenactment at the historic Ft. Washita in Oklahoma...but unfortunately (much to our great sadness) our beloved Ft. Washita burned down a couple of weeks ago.  For our reenacting unit, Ft. Washita was the place we had our annual private reenactment at Christmastime.  It was always so lovely.  Plus, it was one of my very first reenactments.  There is a support group forming on Facebook for Ft. Watshita in hopes of gathering funds for a rebuild.  I hope they can achieve it, although I know these days funds are better utilized in taking care of the family.  At least we have the memories.

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In other news, we're planning a camping trip in a few weeks!  This will be the first time ever that I've camped out (modern style) with Keith, so that'll be fun.  The boys will be going fishing so we'll have a catfish fry several times, I'm sure.  Even funner is the chance to have the baby along and look at sticks and leaves and bugs.  :)  Sticks and leaves and bugs, to my toddler, are apparently the coolest thing since they put the pocket in the pita.  And I love it!

Well, I suppose I should pack it in for the night.  Blessings to you all.

Amy