15 Months Old

Our almost-toddling little one is getting so big! 

I've long since abandoned the motherly foolish notion that my child should be ahead of the game in every respect.  In her gross motor skills, Gemma simply takes after me.  :)  I didn't walk until 15 months, and Gemma also hasn't walked yet . . . but she's very close!

Over the past several months of no updates, she's made steady progress.  She finally started climbing on things at 11 months, doing a true "cruise" crawl on her knees around her first birthday, and started standing more often and pulling herself up shortly thereafter.  At some point, when I set her on the ground, her feet started coming down first instead of her bum, and now she'll happily walk holding onto a support or a person with her hands, and sometimes even with only one hand.
 

When we were in Florida a couple of weeks ago, I happened to catch her first independent stand on camera!  We were so excited!

Gemma has been climbing stairs for months now, but now she's also excitedly learning how to come down them backward on her tummy.  She would practice this to no end if I let her!

Cognitively, she is seeming more and more like a toddler, too.  It seems as if overnight a switch went off and she suddenly figured out her straw cup.  Before that, she could use an ordinary straw or I would help her take sips from a regular cup, but both required some Mommy-participation.  Now, she's an independent little drinker, and she likes to go around the nursery at church and see how many different children's cups she can try!  Thankfully, she has a very cute habit of saying "num num num" whenever she eats or drinks something especially yummy, so she's easy to catch when she starts pilfering drinks!  

She is also learning her body parts, and will point out nose and ears on herself or on Mommy and Daddy when she feels like it.  She also points to eyes, mouth, etc., but the nose and ears are the ones she most often knows when we ask her.  :)  If she finds one of her shoes, she taps it against her foot.  When we hold out the sleeve to her jacket, she pokes her arm in.  If she pulls her bow out of her hair, she inspects it and then taps it against her head.  Very fun.  :)

It's also very sweet how responsive she is becoming.  If I hold out my hand to her before we pray over our food, she takes my hand in hers.  Sometimes when I'm nursing her before bed at night, she starts to wiggle and try to get down, but if I tell her, "No, Gemma, it's time to rest," she latches back on and tries to go to sleep.  She's learning to come when we call her and to be quiet for brief prayers, and she's very good at "no touch" and usually pretty good at "no chew."  Some of these have required some "battles," as John calls them, but I think even she realizes how great it is to be able to play with something we wouldn't otherwise let her have now that she has the self control not to chew it if she shouldn't.

As far as speaking goes, Gemma still mostly babbles.  She says "da" for "down" and "dis" and "dat" to point out things she's curious about.  And we hear a lot of "dada" and some "toy," but the rest seems to be babble lately!

As the months go by, John and I often turn to each other and say, "She's at that sweet spot now where she sleeps at night but doesn't run everywhere yet . . . " Our definition of what the "sweet spot" is keeps changing and I think we're realizing that every stage of this little one's life is simply a delight.  I could just eat her up with kisses.  We are so thankful for her!