Fifteen Months Old

Esme will have her 15 month physical next week but today marks the day.  She's really coming along with her language.  She can say dada, doggie, duck, uh-oh, hi, and no clearly.  Once in awhile she'll imitate what we'll say and she's said mama in the past but it's not consistent.  She's still signing too - milk, more, eat, diaper, birdie, all done, and please.  The only sentence she's made so far is "hi doggie."  As for Mandarin, she can say hello and thank you and she's working on saying light.  We catch her singing among her babble sometimes and we figure it must be songs she's learned at daycare.  She can also point to all her facial body parts when she's asked in Mandarin and some in English.  Of course she understands both languages better than she can communicate back to us at this point.

Esme's walking and running all over the place and recently been trying to climb up on everything.  She likes to find things that can act as a stool to help boost her up onto the couch, look in drawers, etc.  She can go up and down the stairs on her tummy but she's also trying to master walking up steps with holding on to someone's hands.  We just got her a helmet for her little push bike so she's nice and safe.  She hasn't quite mastered holding onto the handles which are far apart.  Instead she likes to put her hands really close together in the center of the bar. 

Her favorite foods continue to be blueberries, grapes, strawberries, and yogurt.  Next would probably be rice and noodles.  Thank goodness for daycare cause apparently she eats great when she's there.  Ms Faye says she wishes all her kids could eat as good as Esme.  At home it's really hit or miss.  We continue to give her all the foods we're eating and she'll at least try them before mashing it up on her tray and then rubbing it on her chest or in her hair.  We're still able to give her my frozen breastmilk and she also gets whole milk and water to drink.

Esme fits 12 month clothes just right and her feet might actually be a size 3 now.  Her hair is also filling in and getting longer but we haven't had it cut yet.  I just put it in a ponytail so it's out of her eyes and that seems to work for now.  She hasn't gotten a new tooth for a few months so she just has the 4 on top and 3 on bottom.  She's not a big fan of flossing and brushing her teeth so it's a struggle for all of us.  I caved and bought her an electric toothbrush and that helped for a few days but now we're back to where we used to be.  She likes to walk around with it in her mouth and every once in awhile we'll try to aim it towards her teeth and get a few brushes in.  It's a long process :)

Part of Esme's bedtime routine includes reading books and her current two favorite are The Napping House and On The Night You Were Born.  She likes to point out and say doggie in The Napping House and duck in On The Night You Were Born.  She's also really interested in books with pictures of other kids.  There's a stack of books on her nightstand and we point to each one and she lets us know which one she wants us to read by grunting.  If it's the right one she settles right down in your lap but if it's the wrong one she fusses and squirms around.

Esme's first car

She found the gas pedal :)  Go car, go!