Cathleya 1.5

Cathleya will be a full 1.5 years old on Saturday. She has been growing by leaps and bounds. By 16 months she was saying words like "micomave" and "make" in reference to her milk. At 17 months she'd grab our hand, walk us to the kitchen, over to the fridge and say "make nai-nai...peas" (that's milk for the non-baby chinese speakers). Nowadays she still walks us over to the fridge, pulls on the door and says "Mommy, open the door... Make nai-nai please... Warm it." Although it's still "micomave."

She's been popping out molars like crazy. Every month seems to bring another molar or K9 tooth. Her last quadrant finally started coming in last month. Now she's rounding 16 teeth all together. That also means a lot of 3am screaming due to painful gums. Poor kid. Poor Mommy. Sometimes poor Daddy, when he doesn't sleep through it and miss the whole thing.

Her memory has vastly improved just like her speech. She can count up to 20. Okay, some numbers are missing, but they're usually in the correct order. She can say her days of the week to 80% accuracy. Colors, she still has problems identifying but she can name all the primary colors. Shapes are no sweat these days. I think triangle is her favorite. She'll even make the triangle shape with her fingers whenever she says the word. Animal sounds are always so much fun. My favorite is when asked, "What sound does a doggy make?" she pants.

Cathleya deciphered...

• cada = Cathleya
• twinkle star = Please sing me Twinkle Twinkle Little Star now!
• piggy market (with the foot in the air) = Please recite This Little Piggy with my toes now!
• tickle do do do = cocka doodle do
• mommy, are you? = where are you, mommy?
• open, in, on = Please change my/its status to the opposite of what it currently is now!
• up = Put me up (or down) now!
• down = Put me up (or down) now!
• hair pick = Please put a hair clip into my hair now!
• tickle daddy = Please tickle me, Daddy
• noono = Please give me some noodles now!
• bocky = That is broccoli, but I may or may not eat it
• ahberry = Please give me some strawberries now!
• booberry = Please give me some blueberries now!
• sam am = Please read me Green Eggs and Ham book now!
• ABC book = Dr. Seuss ABC book
• dragon wagon = The Dragon in a Wagon book now!(her all time favorite)
• mission = Please turn on Little Einsteins now!
• watch mickey = Please turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse now!
• (sees an airplane, bus, car) Bye bye, airplane/bus/car
• wipe, wipe = (in the high chair) Please give me a napkin so I can wipe the table now!
• read book = Please sit on the floor, indian style, so I can sit on your lap while you read me every book in the shelf until your legs fall asleep... now!
• grandma, no baby, no baby (hand waving back and forth) = Grandma, please put down that Noelani child and only play with me... now!
• mommy ceeyo = Please get me some crispix cereal now!
• cada ceeyo = Please get me some kix now!
• sfing/slide = Take me to the park, please, now!
• derrit = ??? (We have no idea what this means and she's been saying it for weeks now. Not when pointing to any specific thing or color or anything in common.)

I'm sure we'll think of more later. That is just a taste of our day. Our days are a lot more interesting now. A lot more fun and yet a lot more "NO, NO, NO" and screaming. But that's all a part of growing up... for all of us.

1.5 down, a life time to go. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.