Month 16 Highlights
This post recaps all the notable changes in Toby’s life during her 16th month (as far as I can remember).
![squigline1.png](https://assets.buttondown.email/images/443612fd-2bbe-43ef-ab08-3d0721727d54.png)
The first new behavior I spotted this month was the appearance of one particular mannerism. Whenever Toby is asked where something is, or she’s just confused about something, she raises her hands, palms up, to her sides. And not only is that very cute, but it also lets us know just how dialed-in Toby is. We can ask her “where is Lolo?” and she will raise her hands and start walking to the most likely place to find her favorite stuffed cat.
We’ve been offering her more chances to feed herself with utensils, and she loves that. She’ll scoop cottage cheese out of the tub and get more than none of it into her mouth. Just yesterday we were working on all the different ways to use a fork on rigatoni. It makes her seem a lot older, suddenly. Real big girl stuff!
Toby’s hair is very good. I like it just loose, but we’re getting into hairstyles more. She only takes out her hair clip when she thinks I’ve done a bad job and I need to replace it. We have some tiny little hair ties and she’s rocked some tails. Those are not her favorite to put in, but she reaches for the bag of ties whenever she sees it because she knows how good she looks.
My hard work has paid off in the animal sounds department. Although her go-to is still a raspberry/elephant trumpet, Toby reliably meows at pictures of cats and pants at pictures of dogs. She also picked up a “peck” sound from the book “Peck Peck Peck” and she uses that for birds sometimes.
We went to story time at the library twice this month! This is a new opportunity for us now that she’s not napping during the weekly time slot. It’s a pretty good setup - a very motivated librarian picks out a few books on a theme, plus there’s singalongs in between. And a puppet show! Pretty exciting stuff. There are some younger babies that just kinda blob their way through the whole thing, but most kids are older and more able to sit and listen. Toby is still a bit young (or too excited) to sit for the stories, but she loves the songs and seeing a big crowd of parents and kiddos!
In a turn that has made my life a bit easier, Toby loves to help with chores! She will take laundry out of the dryer and help me hang up her diapers. I am not allowed to use the vacuum without her supervision. And if I suggest that we put things away, she kinda makes an effort! It’s very cool of her and I hope we can keep this helpfulness going. Even when she’s not executing the task perfectly, at least I don’t have to squeeze all the chores into her naptimes or after bed.
And my final note for this month: Toby is busting out surprise words. Like, not things we’re intentionally working on or repeating or prompting her for. My favorite of these is her fifteen-month-old neighbor’s name, Duke. She’ll march down towards his house chanting “Duke! Duke! Duke!” Other new words include: moon, water, and an especially well-articulated “all done.”
![squigline2.png](https://assets.buttondown.email/images/12a4894d-ecb9-4c07-bdba-677bf83210f4.png)
We have a big trip coming up next month, so I may not get around to a Month 17 post on time. But I am sure we’ll have a lot to report. Onward!
![a photo of a little girl in an orange dress, standing in a park, holding up a stick as if she's giving orders to charge](https://assets.buttondown.email/images/4209d9b2-d931-4eae-b21b-9943adb7ef12.jpeg?w=960&fit=max)