You Talk Too Much...

Well, Virginia has certainly inherited the talking genes from both of her lawyer parents. This is definitely one developmental milestone that she has blasted right through! At almost 23 months old, she is a jabbering queen. We've just been amazed at her vocabulary and some of the concepts she strings together now. It is so fun to be able to communicate with her in full sentences! Here are some of the gems from the last month or so of her life:

"I need that yellow one!" - said while trying to swipe a can of yellow Play-Doh from mom's hands

"Help, Mama! Many crunchies fall down!" - said after spilling a bowl of Frankenberry cereal in our guest room (Thomas picked out her snack that day).

"Dada book. Save for later." - Thomas was out of town, so when she located a book that she believed belonged to him, she decided to express that we needed to set it aside and save it for him when he returned.

"Humongous meatball - push!" - This is assuredly the most random of Virginia thoughts this month. Apparently, there was an episode of Abby's Flying Fairy School on Sesame Street where the characters are trying to move a giant meatball and are pushing it. She recalled this scene while driving in the car many days later.

"I'm Ginia" - Virginia has started introducing herself to new people whenever we meet them. Because she can't always say Virginia with ease, she has shorted it to "Ginia."

"No cheese, Gromit" - Virginia's Uncle Doug gave her a set of Wallace & Gromit DVDs for Christmas, and Virginia has taken quite a liking to them. She has started quoting some of the better lines from the movies!

"Go Heels - Hurray!" - We've clearly been watching some UNC games in our house this time of year.

And last but not least....

"JUMPY TIME!" - To Virginia, everything that she likes to do has a "time" (Elmo time, nap time, "WaGomit" time - aka Wallace & Gromit time, WeePlay time, snack time). But her favorite thing to do is jump, so jumpy time is the most often uttered phrase in our house. We have to have jumpy time in her crib before her bath each night so she can blow off some energy (and often at other times too). She also loves to do jumpy time at her tumbling class on the trampolines there. And, of course, her few experiences with a bouncy house have been nothing short of magical.

Word to Your Mother

Our little active toddler has become a fountain of language the past few weeks! As Virginia began to speak, I took the advice of a work colleague, and sent an email to myself documenting each new word that was added to her vocabulary. I'm at the point where I don't think I can keep up anymore, so here's the list of Virginia's words at 16 1/2 months:

• Uh oh (first word on April 23, 2010)
• Num num (food)
• Mama (also Mommy)
• Hi
• "Dis" (this)
• Bye
• Juice
• Book
• Dada (also Daddy)
• Wawa (water)
• Baby
• Hat
• "Dat" (that)
• No
• Shoes
• Nose
• Up
• More
• Eye

Virginia also has a number of animal sounds in her vocabulary. I think the sounds are actually what caused her speaking to really take off. Here are the sounds Virginia will say on demand:

• Wuh wuh (dog)
• Grrrrr (lion, also the Whiffenpoof dragon apparently makes the same noise)
• Ah-ah-ah-ah (goat, also a monkey and a horse say something similar)
• Meow (cat)
• Baa, baa (sheep)
• Sssss (snake)
• Cack, cack (duck)
• Booooo (cow - Virginia obviously prefers ghost cows)

Virginia also opens and closes little pursed lips to refer to a fish and sticks out her tongue and says "Ah" for a frog (just like the Uh-ah Little Green Frog song).

Walking and Talking!

We can't help ourselves - had to post another video of Virginia showing off her walking skills. This one isn't as action packed as the other one, but it is much funnier, because Virginia "talked" through the whole thing in this bizarrely loud voice.

Talking to Mommy

Virginia sure does like playing with all the stuff in her toy box. Sometimes she gives Mommy a running commentary as to what she's doing by offering the constant refrain of "baa, baa, baa."

Babbling and Boo

Virginia is just in the early stages of true babbling - repeating a consonant/vowel combination over and over again. While many of my friends' babies have started with "ba, ba, ba," Virginia was smart enough to think of something more appropriate for the month of October. In celebration of Halloween, Virginia has been saying "boo, boo, boo!" She somehow combines the word with blowing a raspberry, so babbling is quite a saliva-filled affair.

Here is a picture of our little ghost all decked out in her Halloween attire (pumpkins+rear end=cute). She has an extra special costume planned for Halloween itself, so stay tuned.