Every little thing she does is magic...

Vivian is 16 months now, and every day is more amazing than the last! She's so bright, and catches on to things so quickly! Her favorite toys are her books, of which she has many. She'll run up to us with a book (or four) in her hands saying, "Boo, boo, boo, boo!" (she's still working on that final consonant). Then she'll climb into our laps to read them. We're trying to work on putting the books back on the shelf when she's done with them rather than littering them throughout the house, but my guess is that will take a while!

Vivi also loves to dance, and we'll often hear her little legs pumping up and down on the floor as she dances to the tunes her various toys make. She particularly likes the lion scooter that Dad got her last Christmas; she'll press his nose and do a little jig to the song he sings.

Vivi began talking two days before Mother's Day 2008, when she said "mama". Now her vocabulary consists of:

mama
dada
boo (book)
boo (peekaboo)
boo (balloon)
moo (what a cow says)
woof-woof (what a dog says)
aaah-aaah-aaah-aaah (what a monkey says)
baa (what a sheep says)
ba-ba-ba-ba (what a chicken says)
bhhhht (what a horse says)
uff (off - she loves to turn off the lights)
bye-bye
hi
thank you

There are probably a couple more than I'm missing at the moment (I have terrible momnesia right now), but you get the general idea. She also put together her first two word phrase last week, when she said "Bye-bye, dada". In addition to her expressive language, she has very good receptive language as well. She has no problem understanding and following basic directions, such as "Bring mama the cup" or "Go pick a book".

Vivian is such a joyful child, and she loves to explore the world. Whenever we take a walk outside, she stops every few yards to pick up another handful of rocks. She loves to feed the cat, to pet the dogs, going to nursery at church, playing with her friend Kristianna at church, seeing other kids, and taking baths. Yesterday, we took her to the tiny playground in the valley. She really enjoyed the swing, but the best part was the play structure. She loved climbing the stair and she had such a blast on the slide! We guided her down the first time, but after that, she had no problem pushing herself off and letting papa catch her at the bottom! Too bad I didn't have my camera with me!