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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

7 comments:

Atlanta said...

That is so fun that Victoria is developing a love of reading at such a young age!

We use a program that sounds similar called 'Johnny Can Spell' beginning at about 3 years old that continues the memorizing/learning process with the different phonic sounds and meanings, evenutally leading into reading.

Sarah said...

She is getting so big and so beautiful. And it is wonderful she is learning so much at such an early age. If she seems ready - go for it! :)

My older boys did not really have an interest til about 2 yrs. old, but Malachi is starting to pick up on letter recognition earlier since he has his older two brothers to listen to and he has taken to sitting with us when we go over our flashcards.

Have a great time on your camping trip! That sounds like a ton of fun!

Mrs. G said...

Thanks for the update. What a big girl Victoria is getting to be! She seems a lot more advanced than Asa right now. :-) Have fun on your trip and post pictures when you get home.
Paris

Amy said...

Oh dear, I doubt Victoria is much more advanced than any other child her age -- I think most of her ability to recognize words is because I've shoved them down her throat from 6 months on. :) Haha!

Lately we've been having big issues with not eating, throwing things when she's angry, and near-tantrums during diaper changes. Frus-trating! I wish I could go ahead in time, grab some experience, and then come back to this time and know what to do when she acts that way. :)

Amy

Robin's Egg Bleu said...

She's so lovely! And her countenance is so wise, as though she were an 'old soul'.

Mrs. G said...

Amy,
I consider myself to have quite a lot of parenting experience and to have some pretty well behaved children, but even I don't always know how to handle Asa. He is a handful! What I do have at my "advanced age" is patience, so much more so than when I was younger. When in doubt about discipline, just wait and see, that has seen me through a lot. :-)

Faye Henry said...

Hi.. just wanted to drop you a line.. I came upon your blog and began to follow last week..I enjoy the fact that you love your family so much..
Our oldest son's birthday is also Sept. 26 but he is 39 now.. The years have fairly flew along but it still seems like yesterday that he was a chubby little baby who wouldn't leave his mama...
Thanks for sharing your life..
God Bless...