14.5 MONTHS- GRASS!

Walking barefoot in the grass for the first time during the Memorial Day Ladder Golf get-together at Great Grandma and Grandpa Richards house!  The weather went from stormy 60 degrees last week to a balmy 90 degrees these past couple of days.

14.5 MONTHS- CHECK UP!

Nevaeh had her 15 month check up (a few days early) and shots.  She weighs 20 lbs. (13th percentile) and is 29.5 inches long (30th percentile).  She is small for her age!  The doctor asked about her walking and talking skills.  She is walking on target and above average in her talking skills.  Most babies can speak between 5-15 words.  Nevaeh is putting 3 words together in a sentence and has been for about a month now!  The other day she blew me away..... We were waiting outside of a store for Grandpa to pick us up.  I went outside and stopped because it was raining, so I waited inside the doors.  I said "It's raining outside".  We waited for about 5 minutes and talked about other things.  When grandpa drove up, we walked out into the rain....Nevaeh felt the raindrops and said "It's raining!"  So not only is she repeating and remembering sentences in correct context, she also is putting meaning to sentences!  Such a smartie!   Mommy added to this by saying that when they went to a baby shower, Nevaeh pointed to the balloons and said "It's a balloon"....without prompting from Mommy!

14.5 MONTHS- BATHROOM

Nevaeh brushes her own teeth and spits in the sink!  Too cute.  The second picture shows her adorable curls!

Last night, Nevaeh walked to the bathroom and said "Pee Pee on Potty"!  She lifted up her dress and pointed to the potty.  Aunt Caitlin took her diaper off and sat her on the Potty!  She didn't do anything, until she hit the bath water!  But at least she is showing an interest....It's a start.  We will have to buy a little potty and pull up diapers soon!  Wow...time is flying by way tooooo fast for this Grandma! 

14.5 MONTHS-PLAYING

14 MONTHS- ANIMAL SOUNDS

In this video, Aunt Caitlin is getting Nevaeh to repeat animal sounds.  Nevaeh repeated "Meow",  "Moo", "Neigh" , "Ka do do (cock-a-doodle-doo)" and "quack, quack".....I love her cute little voice!

14 MONTHS- SHARING VIDEOS OF OUR LITTLE SMARTIE!

Aunt Caitlin got Nevaeh to show off today. If you listen carefully, you will hear her repeat the words "diaper, pen, and book".

In this next video, Aunt Caitlin got her to show off her skills in pointing out her nose, belly and ears.  I think she would have continued to show off, if the phone hadn't started ringing!

14 MONTHS- BEAUTIFUL FACE

I sure do love this little girl!

14 MONTHS- 3 WORD SENTENCES AND A LITTLE HELPER!

3 word sentences today!   Today, Nevaeh was looking for Papaw and saying "Papaw?"....She looked all around and Great Grandma Richards and Aunt Caitlin kept asking where Papaw was....Nevaeh said "I dun no".  Later in the day, Papaw (Great Grandpa Richards) asked where their dog "Baby" was and Nevaeh pointed to the door and answered, "owside".  Later this same day, I pointed out a scratch on Nevaeh's knee and called it a boo boo.  She looked at it but didn't say anything at that time.....Later the same day, Courtney Skyped me and Nevaeh pointed to her knee and said "It's a boo boo" .....She said this over and over about 20 times....with no prompting!  NO KIDDING!

 

This is just a small clip of Nevaeh helping Aunt Caitlin making baby shower favors!  She helped for a long time and was very patient when Aunt Caitlin couldn't get the lid on!  

14 MONTHS- 2 SYLLABLE WORDS

Nevaeh has learned how to use Aunt Caitlin's iPad.  Aunt Caitlin downloaded some educational apps and taught her how to use them.  One app in particular names a letter of the alphabet when touched, a picture starting with that letter appears and is said to her.  Nevaeh could repeat each one syllable and two syllable words with no problem (no articulation problems either!) When it came to the three syllable words such as banana, she would say "nana".  She even said hard words like teacher, doctor, puppy, apple....  She is such a quick learner and I can honestly say that the Your Baby Can Read video is the catalyst to this learning.....mind you, she isn't one of those genius babies who is reading at 14 months, but she certainly is grasping and comprehending the English language with no difficulty!  Hopefully this translates over to a strong, confident student when she hits school age.....Time will tell!

14 MONTHS- WALKING EVERYWHERE!!!!

Just as Nevaeh turned 14 months, she decided that crawling was for babies....Now she walks EVERYWHERE!!! (When the phone rings, you will hear her say "phone", then she repeats after Caitlin....then she babbles...)

 In this next video, you will hear her calling for our dog, Chael!!!  She says "dog, dog"

 All this walking makes her tired!  She still loves to pull her blankie up around her face when she sleeps....used to freak us out!  But we are used to it now.  :-)

14 MONTHS!

Dear Nevaeh,

My what a difference a month makes!  In the past week or so, you have readily walked all over the place (But you still like to crawl alot, too!)  Your two teeth have turned into 6 or 7 over night!  Hard to tell because you won't let us look in your mouth!  You eat just about anything now and you are even good at holding a cup on your own and drinking from a straw on your own.....Before, we had to pinch the straw or you would suck toooo much up and choke!  You are even getting good at holding your own food and taking reasonable bites and chewing before you swallow!  You still love your morning and night cereal bottles with milk vs. formula. But you never cry for a bottle during the day.  Even though you are a good eater, you haven't gained any weight, but you continue to get taller.  I see you slimming down....Your little body reminds me of a toddler vs. the rollie, pollie baby you used to be.  You are even losing your cankles!  HAHA!  You still wear  size 12 month clothes, size 3 diapers and size 4 shoe. 

Your vocabulary blows me away.  You say many one words on your own with meaning such as dolly, dog, Mommy, Daddy, bite, Chael, Caite and so on.....recently you've put two words together such as NO Chael, Awe Baby, Tank Qu (Thank you).....you can even count 1, 2, 3 on your own!  Amazing!  The other day, Mommy was watching some kiddie you-tube videos and you sat and watched intently! You even tried to do the hand motions to The Itsy Bitsy Spider song as you swayed to the music!

You are getting more loving to all of us and initiate kisses, hugs, back pats and nuzzling......but you also have a side to you that isn't too loving.  For example, you do not know how to share, and you will hit other kids or try to push them out of your way.  You even had your first time-out for acting this way, which was less than one minute, but you were devastated!  Mommy thinks you are too young for time out, but I believe you understand right from wrong and now is the time to teach you good play habits.

I love you, my sweet Nevaeh!  Looking forward to what next month brings us!
Love, Grandma Dason

MOTHERS' DAY 2011

What more could this grandma want with two college graduates and beautiful grandchildren.......NOTHING MORE......oh wait......maybe more grandchildren!  ;-)

MAY 7, 2011 GRADUATION!!!!!

Today your Aunt Caitlin graduated from college!  She studied to be a nurse and now has her RN-BSN.  Next she needs to pass her nursing exam for licensure and look for a job!  We have such strong smart women in our family and I have no doubt you will grow up in your Mommy and Aunt Caitlin's college bound footsteps!  In 3 short months, you will be walking down the aisle in Caitlin's wedding ceremony, since you are the flower girl!  Time flies!

ALMOST 14 MONTHS!

Nevaeh is starting to initiate kisses (open and closed mouth).  Yesterday, Mommy told her that she loved her..... Nevaeh took her pacifier out of her mouth and kissed Mommy!  How sweet!

For some time now, Nevaeh has been loving on her dolly.  She will pick up her dolly, hug her, pat her back, snuggle with her up around her neck and kiss her!  She will even say "Awe baby" while she pats her!

Today, while Daddy was changing Nevaeh's diaper, she became restless, so Daddy started counting to 10 to catch her attention.  Nevaeh repeated each number back to him clear as could be!  Then Mommy Skyped me and Nevaeh counted  for me.  I said one, she said two, and then she said three on her own!  By the end, she said one, two three in order on her own!  WOWOWOW!!!

The other day, I was on the phone with Nevaeh and she said HI (usually she would stare at the phone or try to eat and lick it!)....Today, Great Grandma Richards called Mommy and Nevaeh said HI GRANDMA (I kid you not....two words, clear as could be!)

Speaking of saying two words....Lately she has been saying NO CHAEL when our dog tries to lick her face!

MY GIRLS!

 Mommy (23 yrs.), Nevaeh (Almost 14 months) and Auntie Caitlin (21 yrs.)

 My two sweeties visiting me at work for lunch! Notice Auntie Caitlin has a bow in Nevaeh's hair?!

 Great Grandma Martin (66 yrs.) and Nevaeh!

And we can't forget Chael....he felt left out, so he found a comfy spot in Nevaeh's car seat!

13.5 MONTHS- TODDLER

Don't know about you, but I see a toddler looking back at me!  Where has the time gone?

May 1, 2011- ANOTHER DAY IN HISTORY WITH A CAPITAL H!

Today marks another day in history.... Osama Bin Laden, the number 1 global terrorist, who masterminded the 9/11 attacks on America and other countries is DEAD!  It took nearly 10 years to capture or kill this man.  So why did I put this on your blog, Nevaeh?.....Because I want you to know that before September 11, 2001, I lived in a perfect world and looked at life through rose colored glasses....I never knew fear.....but on that day my life changed as all Americans feared for their lives....  We watched the World Trade Center (twin towers) crumble to the ground, an attempted attack on the Pentagon, airplanes taken over by terrorists, while many innocent people died.... A very scary time then and even now as many soldiers went to WAR (including your daddy, who was stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan) and some died in the quest to find and or kill this man and his regime.

My wish for you is that you can grow up in a peaceful world and maybe be able to view your life through rose colored glasses, as I did for almost 38 years before the 9/11 attacks!

By the way, I wrote this post as I watched President Obama deliver the message over TV.  So take a look at the time stamp of this post .....a time in history!

13.5 MONTHS-BATHTIME FUN!

Bath time is fun, but tricky now that she is mobile!