then a long nap in the car, I took her to the playground. Well, she zonked out the minute I pulled into the playground parking lot. Fortunately, the weather was mild and breezy so I could just keep the windows open and read while she slept for an hour and a half. It was a nice break for me. After she woke up refreshed, it was time to play. She loved the swings, going down the slides, and running around the big-kid ramps. She's very social and likes to go up and stand next to other kids and smile at everyone.
She's just a sponge these days, learning so much and doing new things all the time. It's so fun to teach her things and watch her grasp them. I forgot to mention in the last post that she's starting to shake her head "yes" and "no". So I'll ask her questions a lot, and she'll nod her head. Mostly "yes" at this point, which is cool. She also vocalizes a lot when being asked a question, as if she's conversing. I've been trying to teach her some baby signs. So at the playground, she started putting her hand up to her mouth and acting as if she's eating. I said "oh, are you hungry?" and she nodded "yes". "Do you want to go home and eat now?" and she nodded "yes". I had some snacks and crackers with me, of course, but it was great because she didn't even make a fuss getting back into the car seat this time.
Getting her into the car seat. That's been one of my new challenges lately. For a while there, she was great. But she does not like being strapped into the car seat anymore. Or the high chair for that matter. This started a few weeks ago, probably because the car was getting so hot in the summer sun when we've been out shopping, and she doesn't want to get back in. So I always turn on the car and blast the AC first. She arches her back and practically does a back bend and then twists around and stands up facing the front of the car and wants to stand there and play instead. She would love to explore the entire car if she could. Eventually, I have to force her in, and she's not happy about it. To make things easier, I raised the height of the shoulder straps since they've been the same height since we got her. That already makes things easier. And now every time I take her out of the car seat, I make the shoulder straps really loose, so when I put her back in, it's a lot easier to get them buckled even while she's twisting and arching. Then once she realizes she's caught, it's a matter of just adjusting the straps.
She's learning body parts and can point to things when I ask "where's Leah's nose?", she points to her nose. "Where's Leah's hair?", she runs her fingers through her hair. "Where's mama's hair?" She touches my hair. "Where are Leah's toes?, she points to her toes. She also knows eyes and mouth. She loves to comb her hair and my hair all the time. She also knows a lot of other things, and when I ask, where's this? where's that?, she either points or just looks at it.
She can stack 5, sometimes 6, wooden blocks by herself. She loves playing with the blocks, and she loves to stack them and notice the little pictures on them. When they fall over, "Uh-oh!". She can do the ring stacker in the right order now. And she can do the shape sorters by herself, too. She loves to play with her new little Fisher Price piggy bank and mail box also. She puts the coins or letters in the slot and takes everything out and starts over again. And we got her the little corn popper, too, which she loves to push and pull.
She's also starting to imitate some animal sounds. So when I say, "what does a cat say?" She says a really quiet "maw, maw, maw". "and what does a dog say?" and she makes a funny grunting sound. I have to go out and get her something with the animal sounds, because she's really catching on.
And just as I have guided her fingers to show her how her toys work, she has started to grab my hand and use my fingers to push the buttons on her electronic toys.
She says "dada" and "papa" all the time now while playing and babbling, especially when she's playing with her toy house. I always show her how papa comes in the front door and says "Papa's home", and how guests come over and ring the doorbell and sit at the table. It's really cute to watch her play pretend.
And she's started calling out "Ma!" really loudly to get my attention. She is also saying "mama" when she babbles, but I think she's decided to call me "Ma". It's kind of like "Om-ma" in Korean, where the strong emphasis is on the second syllable. She definitely knows who her mama and dada are.
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