16 Months

Nora is modeling the shirt my friend and fellow blogger Jo made for her.

Valentine's day also marked Nora's 16th monthday, which means she is 1 1/3 years old!  The biggest difference I've noticed in her second year is that most of her developments are cognitive, whereas the biggest developments throughout year one were physical.  These days it is hard to remember what life was like before she could walk, but we are amazed every day by the things her little mind can do.  Today, for example, I was on trying on shoes at Nordstrom Rack while Billy watched her wander around.  She noticed a shoe on the floor and put it back into the correct box with its partner.  The other day, when I was unloading the groceries, she came over and started reaching into the bags to grab the items and hand them up to me so I could put them in the cupboard.  She was using one hand, but when she got to a heavy can that was hard to grab, she grew very determined and finally figured out how to carefully grab it with two hands and lift it out.  It's fun to see her brain making connections, like how she know to respond to "See you tomorrow!" by waving and saying "buhbye!" We love feeling like we can see the wheels turning in her head.

She also never stops talking.  Her babbling is more frequent and includes more syllabic variation all the time.  Her words are also getting more clear and more reliable.  Words she uses regularly with an accurate understanding of what they mean include:
-hi
-bye, buh-bye
-yeah!
-no, NOOO!
-thank you
-night night
-Dad/daddy
-Mama
-nahnah (this is her own word, which basically means "I want that," whether "that" at any given moment is to nurse, to be given more food, to be handed something she can't reach, etc)
-more please (sounds more like "mopee" but is sometimes accompanied by the sign for more please)
-Oscar, which she is getting better at pronouncing all the time.  Every dog or picture of a dog is Oscar.
-UP! (in her most demanding tone)
-get down (to Oscar)
-Elmo
-baby
There are quite a few other words that she reliably repeats after us, as well.

In terms of physical abilities, she is getting better control of her body all the time.  Since her brain seems to be going going going all the time, the ideas she gets about what to do with her body are also expanding.  I snapped the photos above when she realized she could sit down on her walking toy as if it were a chair and use her feet to push herself backwards across the room.  She was so tickled with herself.  She walks forward, backwards, on tiptoes.  She hides herself in any corner she can find.  She hides other things, too.  She picks up Oscar's bone, calls his name, and walks over to give it to him, though she sometimes decides she will take it right back.  She peers into the two inches of cupboard opening allowed by the baby locks and reaches around to grab what she can behind them.  She tries to put hats on her head and helps us a lot more when we are dressing and undressing her.  When she is carrying around one of her balls, she sometimes decides to throw or kick it.  She gives real kisses and real hugs with both arms wrapped tightly around your waist or neck.  She knows hugs and kisses are cute because she usually follows them up by saying "awwwww."  She alternates between pestering Oscar and trying to kiss him.  She pulls out her hair clips and rubber bands constantly.  She is getting better and better at eating with utensils, but when the food falls off the spoon, boy does she get mad.

These days, she is fun about 95% of the time, and the other 5% of the time just reminds me how good we have it.  We love being her parents, we are so lucky to have such a delightful little person in our house every day, and we love watching her explore her world.