Videos, Part 1

I have a lot of video clips from the past couple of weeks to share with you. Sometimes our video camera sits in the cabinet collecting dust for months, and other times we use it almost every day. Lately, I've captured a lot of fun little moments with Audrey, so I thought I would start a video series here for the next couple of days. (If you are reading this on Facebook, you will need to click "View Original Post" at the bottom of this page to see the videos).

First, a couple of animal sounds. She's been doing these for a long time, and you can tell by how quickly she answers. She is probably so sick of us asking her to make sounds and words all the time!

Audrey loves books. She is especially fond of the Babysitter's Club books that I used to read as a kid. The books are on a shelf that is just her height, and she loves to pull the books off the shelf and bring them to me. She spends some time studying the front covers, then she usually wants me to flip through the pages. And then we repeat the whole process over and over again!

Here's a sample of some of the words she is saying right now. I've been updating the list I made a while back. It's amazing how much she can say! Granted, she hardly ever pronounces anything correctly and I am usually the only one who can understand her...but still, it's fun to get a little peek as to what is going on inside that little head of hers.

I need to try to get some more words on video because some of them are so cute! She has the most enthusiastic "Hi" and "bye-bye" that you've ever seen...but I don't think I have ever captured it on video. I will try to do that soon. I also need to videotape her saying "ham". First of all, it's just funny to me that "ham" is a word she likes to say. There is a picture of ham in one of our magazines, and she just gets so excited about ham. Plus the way she says it is so cute; she emphasizes the "mmmm" at the end. And it cracks me up every time! So stay tuned for lots more videos in the coming days!

Chicago Trip

Before I talk about our trip to Chicago last weekend, I just have to comment on how much fun Audrey is right now. Tonight she was just being so adorable and silly and funny, I didn't want to put her to bed (but I did put her to bed, because even though she is cute, I still had lots of things to get done without her around to distract me!). She is talking so much. Rather than just repeating words on command, she now uses words to communicate what she is thinking, and it's so much fun to listen to her!

Her newest word is "no". It took her a while to start saying "no", but now that she is saying it, "no" has become a quick favorite. Last night we had some people over for Daniel's birthday, and she said "no, no, no" to every kid who touched one of her toys. I have to admit that hearing her say "no" is really cute, but I know the cuteness will fade quickly as she turns into the selfish little girl who won't share her toys. So we're going to be working on the concept of sharing from now on!

Anyway, on to the purpose of this post: Last weekend we went to Chicago for a mini-vacation. On Friday we met my sister Elisabeth and went to Ikea. It was my first trip to Ikea, and I loved it! It was also Audrey's first trip to Ikea (obviously!), and she loved it as well. Her favorite parts were the children's area (she wanted to climb on every bed and play with every toy) and the bathroom (where they had a kid size sink so she could wash her hands all by herself!).


After several hours at Ikea, we went to the mall and out to dinner with Aunt Elisabeth. Then we took Audrey swimming at the hotel pool. Audrey and I were the only ones with swimsuits, so we went swimming while Daniel and Elisabeth took pictures. Audrey hadn't been in a pool since last summer when she was still a baby. So it was fun to see her react to the water, as it was like she was in a pool for the first time. She was a bit scared at first, but she seemed to really like it by the end. She especially liked climbing on the stairs and getting in and out of the water (with Mommy's help of course!).
On Saturday, we met my friend Katy at the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier. Audrey was a bit timid and grumpy at the start of our day there, but she warmed up and had fun by the end. Her favorite exhibit by far was the water play area. Here she is in her too big and incorrectly buttoned raincoat, ready to attack the water.These water spouts were the best. She loves washing her hands, and here she could stand and wash her hands all by herself (just like at Ikea!). It was like heaven for her, I think! And the raincoat proved to be ineffective...she was soaked by the time we dragged her away from the water!

After the Children's Museum, it was time for Audrey to say good-bye to her new friend Katy.

And timed for one last picture in Chicago.And then Audrey completely crashed on the way home. She was asleep by the time we pulled out of the parking garage at Navy Pier! Poor girl...it was a busy weekend, but she was a trooper and cooperated wonderfully the whole time.

Eighteen Months

Audrey is now 18 months old. We had her dr's appointment today. She weighed in at 23 lbs, 8 oz (39th percentile) and 31 1/4 inches (51st percentile), so she is still staying right on average with her size. She is developing just as she should, and the doctor didn't have any concerns at all. I'm pretty sure she remembered her last dr's appointment (which was horrible!), because she started crying as soon as we entered the exam room. Audrey never likes to have the doctor examine her. She always screams bloody murder when they touch her, even just to take her temperature. But today seemed even worse than normal. I think she inherited her mommy's fear of doctors.

Here are a few 18 month pictures with Raggedy Ann. Obviously she doesn't think it is very cool to sit down and look at the camera for pictures!

Showing off her brand new pediped shoes. Mommy is pretty excited about these cute silver shoes!

Her favorite activity at Sprouts (a playgroup at our church) is to play with the shopping cart and groceries.

She has been so silly lately! One night she thought it was hilarious to put the puzzle pieces in her mouth and then let them fall out. And then to keep doing it over and over again.

This Morning

Our poor video camera has been collecting dust lately, so I pulled it out this morning to capture a few moments with Audrey.

Audrey loves to open and close doors. She especially loves to slam the doors closed as hard as she possibly can. She's been doing this since before she could walk and has yet to slam her fingers in the door...but I am sure that day will someday come. Our newest game goes like this: Audrey tells me bye-bye and slams the door. I open the door and say hello. Audrey laughs and giggles, then says bye-bye and starts the game again. Of course, since I had the video camera out, Audrey wasn't all that interested in playing the game very well today. But there is still plenty of door slamming in the video below.

(As you watch the video below, you may notice that this is a dangerous game for Maggie, who likes to try to run through the door at the same time that Audrey is closing it. Don't worry...even though it looks like Maggie gets hit by the door in this video, the loud sound that you hear is my hand hitting the door to stop it. It is not Maggie's head. No dogs were injured in the making of this video!)

Audrey often goes up to the piano bench and says "B-i-b-i-b-i", which meands "B-i-b-l-e", which means she wants to play the piano. (We play and sing the B-I-B-L-E song together a lot).

Remember these videos from last July? Audrey has come a long way in her piano playing skills in the past 9 months. Back then, she used the palms of her hands to bang loudly on the keys. Now, she often uses her fingers to play one key at a time (and she figured that out by herself, I didn't even teach her!). Back then, Audrey had to sit on Mommy's lap to play the piano. Now, she can sit on the bench all by herself. Back then, Maggie howled annoyingly in the background. Now, oh wait...Maggie hasn't changed a bit!

I am very impressed that Audrey can recognize the tune to Elmo's Song after hearing only a few notes. (We must let her watch her Elmo's World DVD too much!)

I have more videos, but that's probably enough for one post. I'll save the rest for another day!

Eating with a fork

As I posted on my Photo a Day blog, Audrey has been eating with a fork lately, or at least trying to eat with a fork. She hasn't quite mastered it yet, but she thinks forks are really fun! As usual, I took a series of pictures to capture her eating adventures tonight!

All done and ready to wash my hands!!

Words

Since I am sentimental and like recording all of Audrey's milestones and since I am also too lazy to get out her baby book and write these things down, I'm going to start a list here of all the words Audrey is saying. Mostly for my own record-keeping...maybe someday I'll actually get all of these things written in her book.

Audrey is almost 18 months old, and here are the words she is saying now along with her pronunciations and my commentary on what she is saying. She says a lot of things consistently, but she consistently pronounces many words wrong (as is to be expected from an 18 month old!). Often I am the only one who understands her!

Words:
1. hi
2. hello (when pretending to talk on the phone)
3. bye-bye
4. ball
5. baby
6. up
7. hot
8. hat
9. coat
10. boat
11. dog/doggie ("doa" or "da-ya"is how she says it, she hasn't quite mastered this one yet and normally just says "woof woof" when she wants to say dog)
12. cat (she is really good at saying cat though, and often emphasizes the "t" sound)
13. bubble (an early favorite!)
14. apple
15. wow
16. cookie (she doesn't quite say this right, but I can't remember how she pronounces it)
17. milk ("Gilk")
18. bananana ("ba-ba")
19. water ("wa-wa")
20. cracker (I don't think she quite gets both "r" sounds in, but it really sounds like cracker when she says it)
21. Light ("ight", she often leaves off the first consonant of words...I think that's a normal thing)
22. Walk ("ock")
23. Clock (I don't think she really pronounces the l, so it sounds more like "cock", she learned this just the other day from watching a Baby Einstein video)
24. fish ("eesh", mostly in reference to Goldfish crackers)
25. teeth (she pronounces this various ways, but it is almost always accompanied by a motion like she is brushing her teeth)
26. help ("elp", which really sounds like up)
27. cheese ("eez", she is starting to say this anytime she sees the camera!)
28. keys
29. boy and oh boy (sometimes she says "bee" instead of boy)
30. yellow ("we-woh", this is the only color she knows, but she points to things that are yellow and will say "we-woh")
31. rock ("ock", as in rock in the rocking chair)
32. eye
33. go
***Added the week of 4/26/10***
34. shoes ("foos")
35. all done ("ah da")
36. please ("Pease")
37. TV (I'm a bit sad that she has already learned this one.)
38. flower ("fowfa")
39. Ice cream ("i cree")
***Added the week of 5/9/10***
40. cow
41. goat
42. car
43. no (I'm surprised it took her so long to learn this one, but now that she knows it, it has become an instant favorite!)
44. ham
45. book ("gook")
***Added the week of 5/16/10***
46. chair
47. green beans ("bee bees")
***Added the week of 6/13/10***
48. ice
49. tent
50. towel
51. rock
52. doorbell (She doesn't really say this clearly, but I know what she is talking about)
53. nose
54. mouth
55. arm
56. ear
57. tongue (sounds more like "dun")
58. trash
59. juice ("Jew")
***and now I am officially giving up on this list! I know there are so many more words that she can say. She is constantly repeating words and saying new things every day. I just can't keep track of it all anymore! Maybe my next list will be Audrey's First Sentences. But so far, she is just sticking with individual words for now.***


Names:
1. Mama
2. Dadda
3. Audrey ("Au-dee")
4. Mimi (for grandma)
5. Papaw (for grandpa)
6. Elmo ("melmo" though it often sounds like Mama)
7. Amy ("Mamy")
8. Katie (she says this perfectly, emphasizing the "t" sound)
9. Cael ("Cae")
10. Natalie ("Na-na")
11. Heidi
12. Seth ("Feh")
13. Elliot ("Aaaaaaa" or "au-dee" She can't say her buddy Elliot's name, but she consistently says these things when she sees him, so I'm writing it down. There is a video on Facebook of Elliot and his brother screaming "aaaaa" that Audrey loves, so I think that's why she associates "Aaaa" with Elliot. Elliot recently learned to say Audrey, and he says it every time he sees her. So now I think Audrey associates her own name with Elliot too)
***Added the week of 5/9/10***
14. Tik (our neighbor)
15. Evie ("beebee", Tik's daughter, Audrey gets so excited every time we mention her name!)
16. Ernie (from Sesame Street, we don't really watch Sesame Street but she is learning these names from the Sesame Street books that we own)
17. Abby (from Sesame Street)


That's all I can think of for now. I'll try to update this list as new words are learned, and we'll see how long I can keep up with it!

Audrey and the Mural

So Audrey loves this mural that is painted in the hallway of the children's area at our church. Every Wednesday night she takes off straight for this area (saying "Woof, Woof" and raising her hands to ask where's the doggie?). When she gets there, she runs around to give all the characters a hug. The difficulty of trying to give a hug to a flat painting doesn't seem to bother her.

I wish I would have had my video camera with me, because that probably would have captured her cuteness much better. But these pictures will have to do for now.

First, she gives the brown doggie a hug.

Then it's time to hug the dalmation.This doggie was special enough to get a kiss!And the boy (or "bee" as Audrey calls him) gets a hug too.

And don't forget about the girl!

Last, but not least, she saves a hug for the squirrel.