Nineteen months

Ok, so I skipped Nora's 18 month update last month. We were a little busy! Her well-baby pediatrician visit was only last week, anyway. She's now 27 lbs, 6 oz (80th percentile) and 34.5" (still off the top of the charts). She's happy and healthy, and took her one vaccination shot calmly.

She had a slightly elevated blood lead level at her 12 month appointment, so they took more blood this time for a recheck. I don't have those results yet, but in combination with all the toy recalls lately, I'm getting more selective about what she plays with. At her age, and because she's teething on all four 2-yr molars, "plays with" still means "chews on." I'm pretty concerned about plastics too, so I'm trying to phase out all the things with BPA and phthalates in them, as well as lead. Both girls will be getting some safer toys for Christmas, but I'm also looking at this as an opportunity to focus on quality, not quantity. One website I've found helpful is The Consumer Action Guide to Toxic Chemicals in Toys, http://www.healthytoys.org/.

Nora's vocabulary is below (bold means new since I last listed it). She's talking and signing constantly these days - I'm not going to be able to keep track much longer! Her spoken vocab is starting to catch up with her signs, as you can see. It's still very much baby talk, and she usually needs me or Aaron to translate for others to understand.

Signs: more, all done, please, dog, hat, milk, food/eat, music, bed/nap, play, brush teeth, push (swing), hi/bye, airplane, Daddy, me, baby, napkin/wash face, hairbrush, banana, telephone, thank you, fly (the bug), Mama, apple, up, you're welcome, book, help, tissue, wind, wash hands, camera, water, shaker (maraca), rain, glasses, I love you (the handshape), Josie, bang, hurt, cheese, wash, waffle, hot, cold, nursies, bath.

Spoken words: yes, no, Mama, Daddy/Dada, switch (turn on the light or fan), fish, shoes, sock, dog, duck, now, tea, dump, chair, bang, up, Nora, Nana, belly button, baby, cat, bear, beep, yum, sister, Josie, clock, diaper, uh-oh, Auntie Emily, knee, Taylor, Sam, Papoose, whee, coaster, apple, ball, spoon, Mica, happy, banana, Abby (this is her friend Taylor's dog, but her perfect pronunciation bodes well for our Christmas visit with Aunt Abby!), nursies, ring, silly, Snappi, Santa, swing, soon, sure, shower. Lots of S words popped up this week!

Sounds: a cow-mmmmooo, a dog-woo woo, and a truck-rrrrrrrrrrarrrrrr, occasionally a motorboat-phhbbt, a bee-bzzzzzzz, a train-chooo, a cat-meeemow, a chicken-cock cock cock, a rooster-cock cock ooooooo. Sometimes she'll tell you that Santa says ho ho ho, but not reliably.

She can identify her (and your!) foot, bellybutton, tummy, eyes, nose, hair, toes, mouth, ears, chin, knees, shoulders, fingers.

She knows the motions to a bunch of songs, including The Wheels on the Bus, When You're Happy and You Know It, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pat A Cake, Twinkle Twinkle, The Hokey Pokey, Open Shut Them, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.