Last week, Abby turned 18 months. I would like to document some of her major and important milestones over the past 6 months. Her 1 year birthday was on 7/7/08.

7/20/08 - On our Alaskan Cruise, Abby learns stand on her own without support. She was able to get herself up to a standing position without pulling on anything by 8/1/08.

8/26/08 - First swimming lesson!

8/31/08 - Abby takes 10+ unassisted steps this weekend.

The 4 molars - 8/30/08 (upper left), 9/9/08 (lower left), 10/29/08 (lower right), 1/15/08 (upper right)



Below are milestones she has hit in these 6 months, but which I can not pin down dates:

> Walking backwards: learned from kids at daycare
> Speaking in very complex sentences: we were visiting Grandma Russell and she saw some ladies who were playing with her through a window disappear through the front door, so she asked twice, "Where are they going?" She has also said, "Where'd it go?" "Abby go outside." "All gone, baby!" "Nooooo, stop it."
> Being obsessed with body parts: her bellybutton's a favorite and she feels the need to touch everyone's eyes right now. I have to quickly squeeze my eyes shut when I hear her utter "eyes" and see her raising a finger towards my face.
> Jumping: her feet are starting to both leave the floor at the same time
> Recognizes a dozen or so colors fairly consistently and can say most of their names
> Can be reasoned with: We were in the car one day and she asked for peaches. I told her she could have them when we got home. She stopped asking for them immediately and was quiet the entire ride home, but as soon as I hit the bump of the driveway, she exclaimed in the most excited voice you can imagine, "PEACH!!!"
> Able to completely undress herself, including removing the diaper.
> Hums/sings to herself, while dancing.
> Mimicking everyone's mannerisms and speech nuances: examples, crossing her legs when she sits in a chair (me), grunting her affirmatives, rather than saying "yes" (me, again), and saying "Hau-le" (ok, in Chinese) repetitively (my mom)
> Can categorize information: examples, she can look at any picture of a dog regardless of breed and recognize that it's a dog and when you ask her what a cat says and later what a kitten says, she will respond, "meeewww."
> Performed her first magic trick, which she thought up on her own: she hides her bear-bear behind her back and comes up to you saying, "go?" with her hand gesture indicating, "Where did it go?/I don't know." When you say, "Oh, where's bear-bear?" she whips the bear out, waves it at you, and gleefully says, "Yay!"

What has really blown me away is how her imagination, thought process, and speech has really started to mature. She is thinking for herself about action and consequences, she assesses situations and adapts to gain the results she wants. She is a very happy kid and I am enjoying watching her grow into a strong, kind, confident person with an excellent sense of humor.