Word Explosion

Right around 18 months, Marlo's language skills really started taking off. Before that point, I had considered posting a list of her words. I never got around to it, and now I'm not sure I could. She is adding vocabulary constantly, the words seemingly coming from nowhere. A lot of her words have to do with food. Her first complete sentence, uttered the other day, was "I want cheese." Today she said "cereal" for the first time, and fairly clearly too. In honor of the holiday goodies everywhere, she tries to say "chocolate." It's a little garbled, but I know what she means. As an aside, she's the only child I know who can become a complete mess by eating a single M&M.

Another fun language trick is announcing the word loudly. And repeatedly. We get a lot of "SNOW!!!!" Around age 2, also during the holiday season, Hayden would shout "IGHTS!!!" every time we drove past a house with Christmas lights, so it seems to be somewhat common. Marlo also says "TREE!!!" and that happens fairly frequently too.

Hayden was an early letter/number learner. I think he knew most of the letters by this age. Marlo gets that there are letters, but they are all apparently "D." She also likes to count, and it goes like this: "Two, Fwee, Two, Fwee, Two, Fwee."

In any case, she's a chatterbug. She talks all the time, sometimes intelligibly, sometimes not, but it's always fun. I'm going to attempt that word list now, even though I'll miss some and it will be long...but it will be fun to look at later.

Dexter, Mama, Dada, no, more, my, Hayden ("Daydee"), milk ("gaulk"), snack ("gack"), cheese, tree, down (which also means up), bottle ("bobble" and it means cup too), bath, book, TV, butt, eyes, belly button ("blah blah"-- said with tongue sticking out), baby, fish, snow, apple, bawk bawk, gobble gobble, ho ho ho, meow, moo, chocolate, cereal, shoes, socks, pants, shirt, hair, cracker, ball, beep, truck, choo choo, diaper, poo poo, potty, two, three, D, E I E I O, blanket (also pronounced "baby"), cold, light, spoon, bowl, all gone, bye bye, various people's names, backpack, coat, boots, hat, toes, owie, turkey, berry, please, thank you, excuse me ("excuse you"), paper, hot, brrrr, towel, door, block, stay, high chair, banana, Stella (all dolls are called "Stella," and she even says it like Marlon Brando), where are you? ("Are you?"), bus...

Happy Birthday Marlo!

Yesterday, Marlo turned 1.

It's the milestone of milestones. All week I've been having flashbacks to last year. A year ago, I went to the clinic for a routine appointment. As it had with Hayden, my blood pressure had suddenly jumped up. However, with Hayden, I was allowed to go home on bed rest. This time, I was sent directly to the hospital.

I spent a lot time getting tests and monitoring. I was already in early labor, so my labor was "augmented" rather than strictly induced. Labor was easy this time around. Marlo was born late afternoon/early evening on the 24th, perfect and beautiful with a full head of hair. I was delivered by my regular OB (just luck of the draw--she happened to be on call). Everyone reading this blog knows the rest of the story. I ended up bleeding buckets (reason still unknown), and was eventually taken to OR and anesthetized and transfused. I spent 3 days in ICU recovering before being transferred to the regular maternity recovery room.

I had a pretty rough go with Hayden, but this topped it. The ICU nurse told me they only see 1 or 2 maternity patients down there per year. However, since I spent most of my pregnancy in a haze of anxiety (shingles, antibodies, hernias, you name it), I was mostly just relieved to have a healthy baby.

Anyway, the memories of a year ago are pretty vivid, given the circumstances. And because the memories are still so strong, the past year seems to have gone extra fast. My little 7 lb 14 oz baby is now walking and starting to talk. Sleepy at birth (she was jaundiced), she still is a good sleeper...but incredibly active when awake. Happy temperament then, happy temperament now (with just a touch of attitude for good measure).

My 1 year old thoroughly enjoyed her birthday. There was cake, after all--shaped like a caterpillar. And wrapping paper, balloons, and time to play outside. She was a little mystified by everyone singing "Happy Birthday," though.

She loved all of her presents. Ben and I got her her own little chair. We got the same thing for Hayden when he turned one and we were amazed by how much he loved it. She had recently been climbing into his chair, and so was pretty excited to get her own. She liked to sit in her chair and look at birthday cards! Hayden got her a book, always a hit, and from family and friends she received many fun and thoughtful gifts--Baby Stella and accessories, a toy flying saucer (Hayden LOVED this one!), clothes, and a play sink.

It's been an incredible first year with her in our family--and we are already enjoying the second.

Happy Birthday baby Marlo!

Mmmmaaammaaa

Marlo saying "mama":



Note the "better call Child Services" outfit. I'll post a few more pictures of that get-up later.