15 Months

Magnolia is 15 months old today. I cannot believe how much she is growing and changing. She is understanding so much and there is a really strong communication between us. She can pick up a new sign instantly and will remember it. She is talking so much more and loves to repeat words if you ask her to. She loves to sign and say "help" at the same time. She uses "help" so much that now we ask her to try first and then we'll help. :) She's up to around 15 words and over 20 signs (yes I'm keeping track!). She loves to look at pictures of herself and then point to her chest as if to say, "that's me!" She's repeating animal sounds and knows her body parts. She says "nose" and "eye." She LOVES shoes. She loves to wear them all of the time. She absolutely adores her books. She will sit forever leafing through them, pointing at the pictures and "reading." She stacks them, carries them around, and literally lies on top of them. I think if she could crawl inside one, she would. In her nursery we're up to about 30 books that she knows by heart, if I recite one sentence, she can go and find that book and bring it to me. She's correct 100% of the time. We have about 20 books that we read downstairs that she'll do the same with! She likes to play her piano with her feet, using the coffee table for support. She likes her shape sorters and really any containers that have lids she can take on and off. We do lite brite (highly supervised) and her little fingers can put those tiny pieces in the holes. She loves to wrestle and play chase and then collapse and say "night night!" She has started to love pretend play. We feed her baby and put her "night night." She likes to draw but mostly with a pencil because that's all I'll give her in the sewing room. I give her cheerios on a big tupperware which I think she thinks is her desk and she'll sit there forever drawing there and eating her cheerios. Occasionally she'll try to poke her pencil through the cheerios and if it doesn't break she'll put the cheerio in her mouth. I looked over one day and thought for a split second that she was eating with chopsticks! She's still eating like a champ but will occasionally turn her head and say "no." She wants to feed herself and is getting better at using a spoon and fork. She's experiencing separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. She'll cry and reach for me or hang on my legs in social situations. She's starting to want her daddy more than me and will look for him first thing in the morning and when she hears the door at night, she'll run for it. She really loves her daddy, they have a very nice nighttime routine together. Magnolia is such an unbelievable gift, I tell her all the time how very happy I am that we found each other. I love her like crazy cakes and everyday feels like such a blessing to be together.