October-December Memories (16-18 months)

Gross motor: Michaela has finally mastered walking so she falls a lot less and her head and knees have been bruise-free for a while. She loves to run (just like her mom!). One of our favorite games is to line up in the race starting position, and say “ready, set, go!” and she will start running laps around the first floor of our house. She has been trying to jump off 2 feet, but she hasn’t quite gotten clearance off the ground yet. She does; however, get some hang time jumping on the bed and in her inflatable house. She is also climbing a little bit onto low chairs, etc. Michaela loves to dance. We’ll turn on music and dance on the kitchen floor. She’ll say “shake your booty” and wiggle her butt back and forthJ

Fine motor: Michaela is still scribbling mostly lines, but we occasionally practice circles and letters.

Verbal: Michaela continues to be an advanced talker. She has more than 100 words and can name practically everything in our household that she encounters regularly. She also says her ABC (with some errors/slurring of letters) and counts to 12 (skips 7). Michaela says several 3-4 word sentences, usually starting with “I”. The sentences are typically ones she has memorized from hearing us say but she uses them in the right context. We are working on learning colors right now. She can say them all but only recognizes pink and green so far. Michaela loves to sing. She has memorized the first couple lines of several nursery rhymes (itsy bitsy spider, ba ba black sheep, etc.).

Feeding: Michaela is becoming a very picky eater. I think it is an independence push rather than not liking the food because some days she’ll eat a certain food item happily and other days she’ll refuse it. We really have to try not to pressure her too much to eat or she becomes resistant. We have found 2-3 items she likes at each meal so we tend to rotate through these, but she isn’t very willing to try new things. She eats lots of snacks and loves her milk.

Miscellaneous: For Christmas we went to Grandma and Grandpa Voyticky’s house in Ohio and Michaela played in the snow with Kristen. She didn’t like it because the snow was so high and she was so bundled, she could barely walk. Among many wonderful gifts, Michaela got her first bicycle/tricycle from Grandma and Grandpa. She had been checking out bicycles for months, pointing out every one she saw, so she was very excited to sit on her own! We flew back Christmas day and spent that evening with Grammy and Grandpa McNally. Michaela got lots of books, mostly about animals, and they instantly became her new favorites. Now she is a master at making animal sounds! At 18 months, Michaela was…