I feel like Addy rushes through life right now - everything is running, bounding, throwing herself forward, spinning, climbing as fast as possible. Right now there are four things that define Miss Addy-Mai’s days:

1. Jumping: This is where having 3 older brothers has its downsides. She is OBSESSED with learning to jump. I should have known from back when she was 10 months old and threw a fit because she could not run off after her brothers that this would be an on-going issue! A quick google search tells me that jumping is a skill children generally acquire between 24-36 months and if Addy falls in line with those estimates, we are looking at a very very LONG year!!! Today she tried to jump off her little chair several times, landing on her face, before she learned a sort of pseudo-jump-slide-off (similar to how Noah, until very recently, “jumped” into the pool! Haha) that she is momentarily happy with. Now she only tries the solo full-standing jump when we are least expecting! But there are boys jumping off surfaces constantly around here and I have been watching her, lately, eyeing them with great interest while they bound off a chair, a couch, a bed, etc. She definitely wants to do this NOW. And she’s going to kill herself trying! She is also obsessed with learning to jump with two feet, from the ground, which is pretty humorous. She tries so so hard, over and over, days and days at a time, with no real progress. I’m glad I looked it up on Google because it seems pretty obvious that she has a long way to go before she masters this skill, despite her drive and determination. I don’t remember my boys ever caring less about learning to jump. Addy makes it her life’s mission. A little video from today:
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2. Running: I don’t think she walks anywhere anymore. Everywhere is a run, a rush. I wonder what the hurry is?! She runs out of the room, runs into the room, runs holding our hands through the stores, runs outside up and down the street and driveway. Run run run. Her favorite thing in the world is to be chased around the “circle” of our house (does your house make a circle? Everyone’s house should make a circle!!) or to chase Dada. The only way to slow her down is to put her in water where there is some natural resistance. Or strap her down in the car! haha
3. Talking: She learned to say jump today - haha! It sounds like “duh” - you can hear it every time she completes a jump in her little video above She is picking up all kinds of things lately. This week alone she learned to call out “Boys” which sounds like “Baaaa” for her brothers or, more specifically “Dalton” which sounds like “Data” and less often “Teegan” and “Noah”. She’s said Mama and Dada for awhile now but the tone is different - it is often an exclamation when we walk in a room or come home - “Dadaaaaaa!!!” with running and big hugs. I looove it. She is still babbling away but she’s picking up some new animal and other noises such as this one:
   
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   She’s also naming one-consonant objects like book and ball and a few two consonant words like gentle and baby. She pretty much uses these words without prompting or imitation at this point. She isn’t big on parroting. once she tries a word, it is part of her vocab.

4. Throwing: Like her body off the chair, for instance Also of course balls, balloons, and her favorite - the brass Buddha that sits in our living room. She is so funny - she always gives Buddha a big kiss on the head and then chucks him across the room. She is also into throwing books (see video above). Nothing is off limits, though, so everyone is on alert to duck fast! We try to direct her to appropriate throwing objects and she is having a blast learning to “catch” (which, if the ball rolls and hits her feet, she considers a success and giggles wildly!!)

Speaking of things she does that I love, she does this whole “toddler arm swing” thing that I absolutely adore. When she runs, she holds both arms way behind her like a jet plane taking off. And when she is holding still, she swings them back and forth in big exaggerated arm swings like in the beginning of this Buddha-kissing video:

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 7:36 pm and is filed under Milestones, Photos & Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.