New skills

Finally, but finally - Sally has learned to clap! I have been waiting for AGES! (some content deleted)

But it is perhaps not in the way I was expecting. For months I've been holding her hands and clapping them together, playing pat-a-cake, saying "clap, Sally, clap" or "look, we're clapping", all to no avail. She wouldn't copy me at all. (This is not a surprise now - gesture copying is not something she does, hence her likely need to attend remedial baby signing classes!) On Friday however I noticed her banging things together (she hasn't done this very much either) so I said "Oh, Sally, are you banging those rings together, that's very clever". A bit later she'd stopped banging but was still holding them so I asked her to bang them together, which she did. Just before bathtime it suddenly struck me this might be a roundabout method of getting her to clap, so I said "bang your hands together Sally, go on" and lo and behold she was suddenly clapping! Magic. I have now clued her in that that is what clapping is, so she will now do it if you ask her to clap, and hopefully she will get better and better.

Her other new skill is climbing stairs. Following the NCT first birthday party where she saw other babies managing to do it she has been able to climb one stair. On Friday with a bit of encouragement she climbed the whole flight - a Herculean effort from one so little!

Sally is also moving on again in terms of language. We've been singing 'The Banana Song', (Mummy's made-up nonsense) which she copies to the extent of 'ba-ya-ya, ba-ya-ya'. She can also says 'fish' if you do the appropriate sign, or show her the puzzle piece. Today she saw her cuddly tiger and said 'Tiger', which she hasn't done since she was about 8 months, and as Sam put her to bed he pointed to the front of her story and said "Who's that?" "Tiger", she said. "Please" is coming along nicely, as she is dropping it in (as 'pees' or 'pliz' or 'eeze') without prompting on occasion, and she even says 'bloo' at the end of Waybuloo when the characters say 'buloo'. SHe understands 'put' and 'in' and 'on' and we are now working on 'hiding' as a concept.

New skills abound - apart from the screaming over food she does not approve of, this is a Good Age. I like it.

(Almost forgot - she also has two new upper teeth, stealthily added when we weren't looking. Brings the total to ten.)