A Message from Mommy

Words that Calista can say pretty much in order of popularity (naturally sometimes the way she says a word isn’t exactly how an adult might say it…):
Hi!
Uh oh!
Mama and Dada
Bubbles
Boo!
Nana (= nursing)
Shoes
No
Go!
Choo (for Ah Choo)
Juice
Cheese
Outside
Thank You
Apple
Potato
Ball
Zoo
Clothes
Toes
Tickle
Up
Turtle
Mermaid
Grady (her boyfriend, so Michelle tells us)
Baba (she used to say this for Bottle before we got her on the sippy cup)

Animal Sounds
Woof woof
Quack quack (which she says every time she sees a pigeon!)
Awooo (for wolf)
Mooo
Ooh ooh (for monkey)
Cockadoodledoo
Ssss (snake)

It is so fun to hear Calista talk – and understand some of what she is saying! She still has quite a bit on her mind, judging from her continual chatter/babble. (Speaking of what's on her mind...this happened a while ago, but is so hysterical I have to write it down: Michelle and I took Calista to the doctor's in April to get her ears checked. She was not happy about it one bit! When the doctor was done, Calista sat very quietly in Michelle's lap, looking down like she was thinking really hard. Then she looked up at the doctor and said "bagotogoobaaagotogoobaa" or something similar with such force and feeling that the doctor literally said, "I don't want to know what that translates into!" We all knew exactly what she was trying to say!)

Now, as you may be able to guess from some of her favorite words, Calista is still obsessed with shoes and clothes. She goes into my closet to try on my shoes too – and sometimes brings them out so that I can try them on for her. I was quite impressed this evening, actually, because she seems to be recognizing that shoes come in matching pairs. If we ever need to distract her, all we need to do is open her dresser drawers and she trots right over, happy as a clam (at high tide!) to rummage around, take clothes out, try them on (yes, she can get a foot through some of her pants), and happily for us, has recently been trying to put her clothes back IN the drawers.

The last time we went to the doctor’s for her 15-month check up in May, Calista weighed 24 pounds and was 31” tall – in the 75th percentile for both. She has 12 teeth too! These days, she wakes up around 6 to 6:15 am and goes to bed between 7 to 7:30 pm. She still takes 2 naps during the day, which vary in time between 45 minutes to 2 hours. She’s a good eater, although we are trying to get her to eat more vegetables (besides peas, avocados and carrots). She’s completely weaned from the bottle (did I say that earlier in a post?) and does really well drinking milk, juice and water from her sippy cups.

Ever the active girl, she is constantly on the go, go, go. Little Miss Independence has a hard time holding hands when she walks down the sidewalk, to our constant consternation and her admonitions of “no, no, no” when we reach for her hand. She will, fortunately, hold hands when she walks down the stairs (face first and holding onto the railing of course). I’ve said before that I think she thinks she is actually a year older than she really is!

She’s still a “parallel player” but she seems to enjoy being around other kids and smiles and says “hi” to them sometimes at the playground. Sometimes she is also shy (“for like 30 seconds” as Michelle’s friend Sara said to me yesterday) and will bury her head in our shoulder or leg before she warms up.

She is also really into walking along ledges of pretty much anything. Benches are a particular joy. She has also discovered dancing and her moves are quite enthusiastic!

And Calista is definitely Daddy’s little girl. Scott is actually away at his cousin’s Jeb’s wedding this weekend, so when Michelle knocked this morning, I asked Calista who she thought it was. Without hesitating she said, “Dada!” She really misses him when he’s gone, as do I! But at least I am catching up on the blog…!