Blog Ian

Monday, April 25, 2005

Ian's Talking

Ian said his first words by his first birthday--Mama, Dada, Oh-oh, and learned to sign a few more--milk, down, finished (for more information on signing see the American Sign Language browser). Next, he started holding his hands out on either side of his shoulders, palms up to mean "where did it go?" or "no more." Then, he stopped learning new words.

It became clear he understood just about everything by the time he was 15 months. I realized this one day when I asked him if he wanted to go outside and he ran to the door. But still, just a few more words--ball, no. He started having conversations with himself even with his limited vocabulary: "No?", "No!!", "No?", "No!!"

Now, at almost 19 months, he seems to be picking up a new word every day--wall, cat, dog, Java (one of our cat's names), dirt, ear, eye, bye-bye, shoe. He started using the sign for "more" (only he does it like the sign for hurt--Yesterday he bumped his head and used it to mean hurt for the first time). He also started putting words together like "my ball," "no more," "oh wow," and the signs for "more" and "milk." Last week, he even exclaimed "Oh boy!" when he saw one of his favorite toys. More and more, he says the words for milk and down, though he still uses the signs.

Of course, Ian's versions of words are not always complete, and sometimes I have to hear him say things a few times before I realize it's really a word (Java is Vava or WaWa. Wawa is also water). Yesterday, he kept calling his balloon "ball" until he finally came out with "baboo."

Ian Misses Ms. Sue


Ian hugs his daycare teacher, Ms. Sue. She quit the CDC two weeks ago (8 April) in order to take a new job.

She was great with Ian's class of kids: Bailey, Kai, Phillip, and Jackson. She was determined to teach them various things--like sitting down to drink your milk, using a spoon, stacking blocks, turning around and jumping, cooling hot food by blowing on it, knob turning, animal naming, and more developmentally appropriate behaviors.

Plus, she is a very kind, caring person. She really seemed to love all her little charges, but we suspect she liked Ian best!

When she quit all the parents and the CDC director, Vicki, conspired to make her a farewell card, with photos of all the kids. She seemed quite moved when we presented it to her.

Ian misses Ms. Sue a lot! And so do we!

His new teacher is Ms. Shelley, who is also very nice; but Ian won't be with her long because he's due to move up into a bigger kids room next week. More to come about that, I'm sure.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Tale of the Tape

Ian had his 18-month check-up yesterday at Dr. Clark's office. Cried through the whole thing, poor little dude. Guess he thought there might be shots involved. Thankfully, there weren't.

Here are his vital stats:
  • Weight: 26 lb. 2 oz
  • Height: 33 in.
  • Head circumference: 19.25 in.
Apparently, all these figures put him in the average range.

Not that there's anything "average" about our special little guy!



4/2/05 9:58 p.m. update:

I stand corrected!

Marysia informs me that these measurements put Ian in the 60-60th percentile, or just above average!

I should have known.