Magnolia at 1.25 years

She says "Mama!" with the accent and gusto of a boisterous Italian and always whispers "Papa" like a secret.

When she wants Frosted Flakes instead of Cheerios she points and nods not her head but her entire torso. Cute and commanding at the same time, her eyes get very serious, her neck stiff, and she jerks her hair forward 3 or 4 times.

She knows what she wants and she knows what she likes. And she only likes "No" if it's her that's shaking her head.

Her snuggles could've cured the Grinch without a word from Cindy Loo-Who. But ask the dogs and they might tell you she's the grinch, the way she terrorizes them with her toys, laughing at scrabbling claws on laminate hardwood.

At 15 months Magnolia is active, curious, opinionated, mostly obedient, nimble, adventurous, attentive, at times talkative, often quiet but always social, and very very sweet. She is learning and growing like crazy; sometimes it's hard to keep up.

We are often amazed by the connections she makes. Recently we were confused when Maggie wouldn't stop pointing at the lady bug on her new shirt and doing the night-night sign. She had just taken a good nap and there didn't appear to be anything on the shirt to indicate that the ladybug was sleeping. We finally realized that she was making the connection between this little piece of embroidery and her plastic lady bug night light that we hadn't used for months.

We could go on, and we will, but for the sake of our readers who don't want to read about our daughter all day we'll just share a few lists:

Words Maggie signs and says at the same time, besides Mama and Papa:

• Bye-bye and Hi
• Nigh-Nigh
• Wahr (Water)

New Signs (without vocalization):

• Carrot
• Bath (she initiates now, not just copies)
• Change (initiates)
• Airplane
• Shower
• Book
• Help
• Please
• Thank you
• Get Dressed
• Hat
• And Papa's favorite 'sign': any time she sees hockey, whether on TV or printed material, she shakes her fist in support.

Words:

• BABY!
• Nana (which can mean Grandma or Banana, and also sounds like Mona and Nigh-Nigh)
• Nunu (this means Bunny)
• Manoya (Magnolia)
• Bubba (means Otis. We sometimes call him Buddy)
• Kck! (Ick = anything on the floor that shouldn't be there or to indicate a poopy diaper)
• Brr (Bird)
• Baba (Bottle)
• Fwuh-wa (Flower)
• Uh-oh!
• Whoa!
• Hmmm.
• 'side'side'side (often accompanied by hyperventilation, this means "Let's go outside!!!!")
• dordordordordor (hyperventilation again: "Oh my gosh, yes! Why wouldn't we go to the store?!)

Animal Noises or Actions:

• Cat: Mew
• Cow: Bbbboou
• Dog: FFff (Woof), Panting, Buh (Bark), Rrururu and many other variations.
• Fish: cheeks sucked in and wiggles her lips
• Monkey: Points to her shoulder
• Elephant: One hand on her head
• Octopus: both hands on her head
• Bee: Bzzzzz
• Most birds: GogGogGog (squawk)
• Duck: GogGog (quack)
• Rooster: Gock-a-doo
• Little birds: makes a fish face (but she's not confused. She's trying to whistle through her teeth like Papa)

She loves to:

• point at things in books or body parts in response to your question "Magnolia, where is the ____ ?"
• find her (or your) belly button.
• take things out and put things in, especially all her clothes from her dresser drawer.
• blow kisses when you leave.
• get dressed. She's becoming particular about what she wears, othen wanting her hat, shoes or coat even over her jammies.

Favorite Books: Anything with flaps, plus Miles the Crocodile, and a Grover animal book.

Pretending: Sleeping or putting her animals night-night