As a dancing girl, even if she hears only Mommy’s singing or elevator music, Austen’s into the groove. She shakes her butt, waves her hands and even does some head banging moves. Almost any type of music with a beat gets her going although rap and hip-hop seem to be her current favorites.
Austen can an crawl up stairs with no problem but doesn’t like the backward downstairs crawl. She prefers holding onto someone’s hand or the rails and “walking” down the stairs like a big girl. She tries the same method when walking off the curb except without any external support; her success rate is about 50%.
Austen likes putting circles, squares and triangles into shape sorters. She repeats the entry and exit of each piece over and over.
Austen can push buttons on her toys and shows a preference for certain buttons over others; perhaps she likes the sounds better. She opens and closes doors and flips switches showing excellent small motor skills.
Her walk speeds up into running as she moves from room to room and back again, never seeming to tiring of retracing the same steps, as long as she has new objects in her hands to carry back and forth. Her toys never stay organized for long because she carries the pieces throughout the house.
Austen wants to do what Mommy does. Mommy has to be sneaky and not let Austen see her open certain containers and drawers because if Austen sees it she’ll immediately want to try the drawer herself.
When we get home from a three or four hour excursion and Mommy tells Austen “It’s seepy time,” Austen doesn’t resist, she almost looks relieved and happily goes into her swing with a six or eight ounce bottle of formula.
When doing something she knows she is not supposed to, she’ll look at Mommy or Daddy to see if it’s still a forbidden act. When startled by a “no,” she sometimes runs around in circles or even runs in place before she shifts into gear and takes off.
Austen can make just about any sound humanly possible and she combines them all in a complicated fashion, speaking in strings of sounds that almost sound like an exotic foreign language. When she’s excited about something, like playtime and tickles with Mommy and Daddy, she’ll start talking as if she has something very important to share. Mommy and Daddy nod and agree with her, while Daddy speculates on what she’s trying to say, usually responding with his trademark wacky comments.
Although she’s been a fan of Elmo’s for a while, when she hears the intro music playing to
Elmo’s World, she gets excited and sings along. When Mommy and Daddy sing the lyrics, she recites one of the words just before Mommy and Daddy do.
At the Baby Tea Party celebrating Austen’s 1st Birthday on September 12th