19 month update: my favorite things & lots of new words

Now that Eden is 19 months old, she has a few new favorite things.

• Big trucks ... the garbage truck, the recycling truck, 18 wheelers, work trucks especially ones with  equipment {or a man sitting in a bucket}. Every time she hears a big truck {or what sounds like a big truck} from inside the house, she looks at us with the widest eyes possible and puts on her best "oh my" face. She then begins to point toward the outside and scurry toward the door or window. When we take her outside it is like she has never seen one before - a new experience every time. She points and looks then looks at us as if to say, "That is a big truck!" The same pionting and excitment commences in the car when she sees big trucks pass our little car.
• Motorcycles. Her other motorized favorite is the motorcycle. She makes the sound with her mouth while looking around with wide eyes.
• Bicycles. Of course, her enthusiasm for two-wheeled vehicles is not limited to those with motors. She also likes bikes. She points, and says "Bi. Bi." Everyday it sounds more like "Bike." She does this when I get my bike out of the sunroom as well as when we are outside and she sees one pass by. One Saturday morning not too long ago I came riding back home while Eden and Ashley were outside. I stopped. She asked for more. I rode around in a circle. She asked for more. This continued for (literally) 5 minutes until I had to tell her that Daddy was "all done." She was upset. Is it too soon to get her a bike?
• Cleaning supplies ... the broom, the dustpan and sweeper, rags and cleaner, the swiffer cloths. Recently, her Nona has obliged this obsession by buying her her own broom and mop  - they are just her size. She likes to clean the house with us on the weekends, and she helps with the occassional mess.
• Balls ... football {her mini one that's all her own}, tennis balls, pointing out balls in books. The other day she even picked up her football, walked over to the TV, and pointed saying "Ball. Ball." Luckily it was a Sunday. I turned it on CBS, and she watched a few plays. When the announcers came on she said "No." I agree - stop talking and let them play!
• Animals ... birds, cats, dogs, curious monkeys called George. This latter has become her favorite lately. We have a book called "The Complete Adventures of Curious George." It is like 3 million pages, and she wants to read the whole thing ... twice. When we put it down after reading just 70 pages, she begs for more {literally}.
• Clean hands. Eden loves to wash her hands, with soap, more than once. Nope it is not enough to wash her hands just one time, she often asks for "more, more, more" right after you've dried them off and set on leaving the bathroom. So, it is no surprise that she HATES dirt on her hand. If she touches the ground, it's "Eehh" followed by outstretched palms. "Dust them off, it's okay." She does. She's fine.
• Yelling. She loves it. She uses it to tell you something is exciting and to exclaim "Come here." It's not a bad yell (like, "I hate you") but a good yell - she's just a very expressive child. It's quite interesting especially when compared to all the time she spends quietly sitting and "reading."
• ABCs. She loves that song. She wants us to sing it when we change her diaper and when we put her to bed {seriously, I sang it to her 6 times while rocking her at my parents' house}. It's fun to watch, too, because she mouths the letters along with you. O is her favorite.

See, she really does still love animals and today found one that was just her size at the park. She was so excited that Ashley couldn't help but let her share a little love with the tiny pup ...

In addition to these new favorite things, she is also adding to her vocabulary at the rate of about one new word every day. So far she says ...

• the originals ... mama, dada, ball {mama and dada are often used to mean man or woman or boy or girl, interesting that she is already categorizing}
• Georgia {her lovie} pronounced dja-ja
• more {pronounced mo' mo'}
• bike, fork, spoon, shoe
• knock-knock {said when she wants to enter a room or wants you to come out and knocks}
• bye-bye, hi, go, out, up, down, no {and no-no and nooooooooo}
• back {especially when she is in the car and the car seat is making her back hurt}
• nose and mouth {said when she is touching/pointing out your mouth or nose}
• baby{with human babies and animal babies}
• bad {said to any inanimate object when she gets hurt},
• dog, meow {if that's a word, she actually purses her lips together and goes mmmmmm in a high pitched sound}
• choo-choo {when she hears the train going through town or sees a train in photos}
• couscous {well not quite yet but she mimicked Ashley the other day so it's close}
• egg and cheese {well, she mouths them stretching her mouth really wide but nothing comes out of her mouth}
• night-night {She will tell you night-night if you pretend to be asleep. Tonight she put a t-shirt on Ashley for a blanket, said "ni-ni" and leaned over and gave her a kiss. Guess she's had that experience before.}
• uh-oh ... and problably a few more that we can't think of right now.
  

It's funny in retrospect. Just 2 months ago Ashley was worried because Eden really wasn't using words. She know Eden was using tons of signs and could communicate, but she was ready to hear some real words. Then, all of a sudden, it's like someone told Eden, "You know, there are these things called words that you can use and people do things for you." Bingo.

Finally, for those of you who like numbers ...

• IQ - we're not sure yet, but it's probably way high :)
• Level of sweetness - immeasurable