Talking

Madeline has been impressing us with her vocabulary, both spoken and understood. She loves to talk and make noises, and while most of her utterings are baby talk, she has a handful of words, such as mama, dada, ball, juice, tee (for "kitty") and, oddly, bathtime.

What's amazing to me is the number of objects and commands that she can recognize, even though she can't voice them herself. She can pick out a dozen or more specific toys when prompted, even though they might be buried among a pile of other toys or even out of sight - across the room or in another room.

She seems to understand universal concepts like "outside" - if I ask her what's outside she'll go to the nearest door or window that offers a view, even when we're not in our own home. I can ask her to perform simple commands like "bring daddy the train" and she'll pick up the train and deliver it.

I feel like she starting to get the idea that she can use her voice to communicate things to us (in ways that do not include crying). When we talk to her you can see a real look of consideration on her face, like she's trying to put together the specific sounds she's hearing and understand their meaning. She's also a mimicking machine - replicating noises you make to her (I make sure to say "daddy" a lot).

I knew that this year was going to be big for walking and mental development. She started walking in the middle of January and her intellect seems to be blossoming just as quickly.

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Madeline's eighth tooth seems to be pushing its way through. Just a few weeks ago she had trouble with number 7 - the first time she had a severe reaction to teething. So far it hasn't been quite as bad as last time, but she's been running a slight fever and has been a little grumpy over the last day or two.