18 months

So Imogen turned a year and a half on June 15th! What a hoot. She says a lot and I am no longer keeping track of all the words and expressions--I will just have to keep track when something funny gets said. She is able to do more and more by herself. I love this stage...It is great being able to tuck her in. I love the hugs she gives, the jokes she makes, the ability she has to express what she wants...I love knowing her more and more. She even repeats the names of her cousins in prayers.
*Ok I have to brag...at her 18 mo. immunizations Imogen did so well. After the first two shots, she pinched her own arm wondering where the next one would go. She reached out for the needle for the third as if to say "Let me do this," now the last one stung a lot and she did let out a howl but as soon as it was done...Imogen started clapping and laughing. I think she was proud of herself. You see she helps Mommy give her needles most days. Now she saw that she could take it too. Wow. I think my doctor was impressed.

Asleep but not in bed.

So Imogen is asleep behind her door right now. We put her mattress on the floor tonight in the middle of the room. Moments before this we heard a loud thud and a cry. Before that we just heard cries of frustration that she was in her crib. The thud came after she managed to climb out of her crib. I guess that toddler bed has moved up on the priority list. We did have fair warning however. My mom and dad told me that Imogen had escaped her playpen during naptime this afternoon when she was visiting Grandma and Grandpa. (After that she walked up to Grandma with a pen and paper in hand. She wanted the pen uncapped so that she could write something). Should have known that she would be ready to practice this new found climbing skill at home. So amongst other skills, escape artist is now on the list. Imogen seems to be doing so much lately and is super aware of everything. Here are some observations:

Imogen points to herself after seeing a photo of her as a baby. She loves to pull out the albums of her from the ottoman storage cube. She also pointed to correct shapes under Ms. Candace and Miss Andrea’s tutelage.

Imogen’s vocabulary is expanding daily. She now has: this, that, up, down, please, open, beep beep, okay, no, dog, dad, mom, some form of grandpa/ampa, hi, bye, apple, egg, cheese, fish, awooof, mine, shoe, the letter "I" on her door, beginning of the alphabet to around "h" and somewhat after, tea, giraffe, baby, Ivan, Mimi, Addy and Immy. Oh yes: "OW, WOW, OH-OH." I probably have missed some.

She loves games, hiding in her closet. She loves music, singing and dancing. She loves rolling her “rs” like a motor and lolling her tongue. She loves giving kisses and hugs to us and waving. She says “No” and points when Mommy and Daddy kiss. She loves the outdoors and almost always wants to be there bringing us jackets and shoes as a firm suggestion. She’s crazy about dogs. She loves her hats. She loves drinking tea. She likes yogourt, ice cream, revellos, fudgsicles, watermelon, strawberries, meat in general, pickles, cheese, soda crackers, cookies, dip, carrots in dip, broccoli in dip…. She looks when called by the CameraMom. She loves climbing into things: rides in the hamper, wagon and gets into baskets. She likes to be independent and tries to scale things on her own—the couch, the piano bench, chairs at the dining table—apparently her crib. She is becoming more active at story-time at the public library. She twirls, touches her toes, claps, taps her head, gets her name tag, puts up the felt pictures instead of eating them, and returns her name tag. She recently showed interest in the potty so we bought her one and she went in it twice and hasn’t since.
That’s our girl, our lovable, one and only Imogen Grace. We love ya babe!

Another month is almost gone

Looking forward to more sunfilled days,
longer evenings hours,
winter coats for spring jackets.
the sled for the wagon
we will take it all in.
For now just the hope of all that gets us outside.
Fresh air!

Our girl is well again. (She had a head cold that still isn't totally gone--over a month now, and a stomach flu for over a week.) She is talking non-stop and sometimes we understand what she is saying. I love her language. She is growing and trying new things--trying to be more and more independent each day. She loves to go outside and often hands me her ski pants to get out. She is funny and loves to laugh and play games. She is such a great kid.
Oh I love her so much!

Latest Imogenisms

"OWW! OWW!" This means "NO!" Although recently when she was around Josiah, she quickly learned to say "NO!" Previously she used, "OW!" because she had hit her dad once and he look at her with a scowl and said, "OW!"

She can complete her shape puzzles toys--if we turn it to the right side.

She goes and gets things when we ask her to.

"UP!" is a favourite expression and might even mean "Please."

I gave her a bit of a wagon wheel and when I showed her that it was all gone from the plate, (we were eating it over a plate), she took it to her face and started to lick it. Yes she belongs to John and me!

She is all cuddles. Recently she puckered up to give John a real kiss. She also blew a kiss in her old way (see last post).

Imogenisms

Lately Imogen seems to be growing up so fast. After she got over her cold it seemed like she had advanced by leaps and bounds. I know I need to write down what she says and does before I forget and she stops doing them or moves on to something new.

Her favourite sound used to be cooing like a dove (rolling at the back of her throat). Lately she is lolling her tongue--a lot of "L" sounds as well as animal growls when the time is right. Clicking her tongue is also fun and occasionally she has been grinding her teeth (Mommy is not a fan of this one).

"What is this?" or "Zhat?" are fun parts of her speech and "Wow" is a new one. "Ah-oh" is what she says when she throws something on the floor--on purpose of course...sometimes she says it before she has released the cup or the food.

A couple weeks ago she sang the "Wheels on the Bus" with her toy sound puzzle. She has also repeated things like "Wub you...."

Lately she as been giving kisses by suctioning the bottom of her palm and exclaiming, "BMMMOI!"

When the Sasktel guy came to the door (we have cable now ~a different story for another blog), Imogen turned and ran to John with her arms in the air. After John picked her up she looked at the Sasktel guy and gave him a deliberate wink.

We were at a puppet show and Imogen got antsy near the end. I let her run/walk near the back and picked her up. A little boy--about two and a half--was climbing a chair next to us. Imogen started saying, "Baby, Babeee..." To which he forcefully replied, "I am NOT A BABY!"

When a song calls for touching her head she does so with gusto.

She now participates almost fully in Library Story Time. The first time she had an image to place on the felt board she chewed on it. The second time she had one she put it on her head, (a favourite family game is to put anything on her head and exclaim, "Imogen hat!"), she also had a good response from parents in the crowd when she did this. Most recently she actually walked right up and placed the image on the board! Mommy was very proud! She also claps at the end of stories.

Passive resistance--aargh! She will totally go flopsy when she does not want to go where you are taking her.

She has a growing knowledge regarding the tv or laptop. She knows how to shut both off and learned to do so without direct instruction. She also asks for both much too frequently (Baby Einstein) as we were slackers when we all had head colds.


She loves music and will sing and clap in time to music. Prodigy? Well, I won't go that far. She certainly appreciates it.

Books~she loves books and will bring them to us frequently to enjoy.

Tobogganing

Last week was beautiful outside--this week not so much! And so Imogen got to experience tobogganing for the first time. We adults had fun and she even came up with some smiles too. The other expressions were of neutrality and a bit of sputtering when I, Mommy, had my feet down and created a facewash for both Imogen and myself. Didn't think that through! She even went down by herself which impressed us all--not that she had much say in the matter.

Happy Birtthday Imogen!

Her birthday was great. We had family over--(everyone but Uncle Jim, Auntie Ange, Uncle Brian, Ivan and Dominique). We ate a beautiful polar bear cake made by Daddy and Imogen had many fun gifts to open. The next day we got to celebrate with some Village Time friends at the mall. What a great marker. Our girl is one!