thirteen months

Simon at 13 months:

I know when Simon is tired and ready for his morning nap. He always finds me and then wants to be held until I put him to bed. When I ask him if he is ready to go nigh' night he gets really excited. Simon does not like to be tired. Stranger anxiety has hit big time for Simon. He is more of a mama's boy than ever.

Simon is picking up sign language. However, he is more verbal than Miriam was. He repeats what I say more than signing. These are the words he says and knows what they mean (repeats correctly each time): Mom, Dad, Miriam, Ball, Baby, Bye, Banana, More, Bird. These are the words he knows the sign for: More, Eat, Milk, Please, Thank You, All Done, Dog, Airplane, Bird, Nice. 

Simon signing from Vanessa Bishop on Vimeo.

Simon has starting letting go of the furniture to stand. He won't take steps, but thinks he is pretty special when he is standing alone. When he is standing I hold out my hands and tell him to walk, he just sits down and laughs. He is also getting pretty brave by trying to climb. I can't believe how tall he is and what he can reach.

Simon sits with his legs crossed all the time. He has done this ever since he starting sitting. I think it is funny how he looks so relaxed sitting crossed legged.

 

Talk about an obsession with belly buttons! Simon loves himself a belly button.

This is what you get if you tell Simon to smile:

Simon always has to have two things in his hands. The two favorite things include: two matchbox cars, Miriam's salt and pepper shakers, Dora's baby brother and sister, and the blue and green stacking rings. Simon likes to wear hats and he will keep them on if you tell him to. We even got a comment at church this week how they were amazed he kept it on... even if it doesn't last all day.

Simon is such handsome guy and his personality is so fun. I love having our little boy in our family.

Simon's First Signs

Good news: over the past week Simon started waving and clapping. Bad news: Simon is cutting his first tooth. Enjoy the video of our good news :)

W or 3

As usual, after rocking Miriam for her nap she looked at me and held up one finger and asked for one more minute. I said we could do one more minute, then she immediately responded with two more minutes holding up two fingers. Again I said two minutes was fine. Then she got a sneaky look on her face, held up three fingers and said, "W more minutes".

W

three

We have been working on learning numbers one through ten in sign language. She is such a smarty pants sometimes. It can be confusing when most people hold up "W" for "3" when counting.

National Zoo 2

Last summer when we were out here on an internship we took Miriam to the zoo. She was really too young to enjoy it then, but she had a great time at the zoo today. There is a Signing Time episode called The Zoo Train that Miriam loves. We rode the metro down to the zoo and Miriam thought riding the "train" to the zoo was great. She knows a lot of the signs for the animals and loved seeing them up close. Her favorite animal is definitely a gorilla. We had to go back twice to see the baby gorilla. Enjoy some pictures.

Sign Language

Some people have asked me about the sign language I use with Miriam. I took a beginners sign language class in college and have always been interested in using it with my children. For us, it is helpful in preventing unnecessary tantrums. I am in no way an expert, but I think it has worked for Miriam. I have used my little bit of knowledge from my class along with books from the library. I also really like a couple of DVD's. There is "My First Signs"by Baby Einstein and the Signing Time series. Miriam likes to watch these movies and continues to learn signs from them. It hasn't hindered her verbal skills, in fact (in my opinion) it has helped.

four squared*

*In celebration of graduation I decided to name this post using mathematical language.*

Miriam is sixteen months old today. The poor thing had to spend the day at graduation for my sister, Ashley, and then at her daddy's graduation. She had a long tiring day, but we think she did a great job.


Over the past month Miriam learned to walk. We can't believe how fast she has grown. She also continues to increase her vocabulary daily. We are amazed at how much she knows.

Here is a list of the words she can say:

Dad
Mom
Miriam
Camel
Book
Ball
Diaper
Beep
Nigh' Night
Bread
Boo
Bye
Bus
Bib
Yes
More
Whoa
One

Here is a list of the signs she knows:

More
Please
Bath
Thank You
Eat
Drink
Milk
Daddy
Help
Ball
Book
Bye
Friend
Love
Water
Blanket
Hungry
Sleep
Wash
Mommy

100th Post!

This post is mostly for my benefit. I have been keeping track of things Miriam has accomplished and some of the cute things she does. I just wanted to write them down somewhere so I can have a copy of it. However, I love sharing how cute she is so please read on.

Things Miriam has learned:
~Animal sounds -- elephant, sheep, monkey (not exactly the most basic animals)
~Words that are distinguishable -- Mom, Dad, Miriam, camel, ball -- I am also amazed every day by how much she understands now.
~Words that are distinguishable to me -- book, nigh' night, diaper, beep (when we lock the car)
~Body parts she points to -- nose, eyes, lips, ears, hair, belly

We have been using sign language with Miriam since she was about eight months old. These are the signs she knows now: more, please, bath, thank you, eat, drink, milk, daddy, help, ball, book (we are still working on mommy)

Miriam has become a lot more interactive. She will shake her head yes and no. She folds her arms when it is time to pray. She covers her eyes and plays peek-a-boo. She will lead the music at church. She loves to dance to any music. Miriam loves to give loves and kisses.

Miriam will stand for a for a few seconds, but thinks it is really funny to fall. She has taken about 7-8 steps between us, but once again thinks it is fun to fall. She is close to walking and will do it as soon as she decides to. It has always been that way with Miriam.

Miriam has always been a great eater. She absolutely loves bananas. I have to limit her to one a day. When I go to buy them at the grocery store she wants one right then and there. She doesn't understand that she has to wait to pay for them. She likes just about anything we give her to try. She will always chose the vegetable on her plate.

Every child has cute and funny things they do. Here are some things that Miriam does that makes us smile:
- she has a toy mini van that she calls a "mama" van
- she has started singing and talking to herself more
- she knows it is time for bed when we read scriptures and say prayers
- she loves her blanket. she will not sleep with out it. she chews on the corners.
- at first she didn't like brushing her teeth. now she patiently lets her daddy brush them each night.
- she is obsessed with pictures. she points to herself when she sees her picture. she loves the digital frame we got for Christmas.
- she loves music and will point to the radio when she wants it on
- she is a great helper at whatever I am doing. she unloads her spoons from the dishwasher and puts them away.
- she always wants to be where mom is. she hates closed doors. she freaks out if you are in a room without her.
- she loves books. they get the most use out of all her toys.
- she loves to help mom shop. she will hold the list and pen at the store while she sits in the cart.
- she lets me do her hair everyday. she is excited to see her bows.

As for Michael and I, we enjoy being parents. It is an absolute joy that words cannot describe.

Here are some pictures from February: