Communication

Morgan has her 18 month Pediatrician appointment next week. As this is approaching I've been thinking a lot about how she is learning to communicate with us. At these appointments the Dr. gives us a checklist to go through so they can determine if she is on track developmentally. I've been trying to think of how she has progressed since her last appointment at 15 months.

The biggest thing I've noticed is that though she has not added a lot of words to her vocabulary, she really understand a lot of what we say to her. Just yesterday I was giving her lunch and I simply asked her "eat some more corn" and to my surprise, she did. Now, she's still enormously picky right now, but I'm happy with a few more corn kernels. I think it's amazing how we can actually ask her to do things now, like she'll get her sippy cup from wherever she left it while playing and she'll find her lovey when it's nap time. We're working on putting books on the shelf, but I'm just satisfied that she'll bring it to a spot close to the shelf instead of just dumping it on the floor by the couch when we're done reading it.

One of the cutest things she does with the short list of words she has involved meal times. She knows what breakfast, lunch and dinner are. Any time we ask her, "are you ready for breakfast?" she'll shout out "eat!!" She does the same for lunch and dinner. One morning I asked her, "Morgan, where do we go for breakfast?" and she went right to the stairs, climbed down (with a little help) and went to the kitchen. Sometimes she will even say "eat!!" before we mention a meal and it is usually right around the correct time. Many of her words are still a reaction to something we say, but she is starting to realize she can possibly get what she wants if she uses them on her own too.

Now, I know of many other kids who are way more advanced developmentally or verbally than Morgan, but I believe she is still in the range of normal. At least I think so. We'll give you the update next week!