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...of walking and talking!

I would be a horrible parent if I documented every single step that Abram took in blog-land and failed to mention anything about Selah's verbal and mobile developments as of late.

She has officially taken steps!  The most she has ever done is five in a row, but it's usually two or three before she lunges herself forward and falls, sometimes quite dangerously.  I would never have predicted this, but Abram was my cautious kid, who took one month to actually start walking.  When he did, he hardly ever fell forward or lost his balance.  I think it's because he wanted to make sure that he could do it well before he did it.  Selah, on the other hand, is more than happy to try over and over again, every time catching herself with those little hands on the hard ground and sitting right up to look for the clapping and smiling.  She still can't (won't?) just stand up by herself without first pulling up on something or someone. But she can stand unassisted now and control a sit down from there.  She is quite adorable and I can't believe that my baby is about to become a toddler.


(love my crazo bed head hair that appears there right at the end...)

She's also started talking and communicating a lot more, too. Up until recently, everything she wanted has been "Ma".  It definitely meant "Mama", "milk", and "more" (makes sense).  But then she started using it for everything that she pointed at and wanted.  She's gotten really good at the pointing and she's picking up signs really quickly now.  And she has also started answering questions with a head nod and a "da" or a head shake (sometimes accompanied by a "no no no no".)  But just today I heard her look at the door that my mom closed an say "doh" and she pointed at her Hug-a-Bible and said "ba ba".  I asked her if she wanted to read her Bible and she nodded and said "da".  It's such an amazing feeling when you realize that you can actually communicate with your child!!  I can ask and she can answer.  She can ask and I can answer!  It's so great.  

I don't think I shared this video yet, but I got this one of her saying "oh" and "ffff".  She says "uh oh" when she drops stuff and she can pick out the O's in our set of alphabet letters and says "O", whenever she sees them.  Pretty awesome! You might remember that Abram's first and favorite letter was "B".  The other day I told Abram and Selah, "Abram's favorite letter is B and Selah's is O!  O.B. or B.O." Then Abram started (literally) yelling "B.O!  B.O!"  Highly appropriate addition to his vocabulary during these hot Middle Eastern summer months :)

Quinn told me today that he hates those magnetic letters because they are ALWAYS spread out ALL OVER our house.  I mean, for the last year and a half they have been the bane of his existence. Having to pick them up all of the time and stepping or slipping on them is just getting to be too much for him.  But I will defend those letters to the death, because I think they are the reason why my kid could identify all of his uppercase letters by 18 months.  They were always around, we were always talking about them, they were tangible things, instead of just marks on a paper and they fit in his hand (and sometimes in his mouth).  And I think they are the reason why my 14 month old can already identify two of of the letters of the alphabet (O and B).  And I didn't really have to do any kind of active teaching.  All I had to do was clean them up occasionally and talk about them continuously.  I should be a magnet letters sales person!  I would make a great commission :)

Hope to be back with some more pictures from our Dubai adventures with my mom soon!  By that time Selah may be running around and reciting the Declaration of Independence. Let's hope not.

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