15 Months Old!

Rhea is another month older today and I have spent the day trying to think of how to describe her today and two words kept coming to mind: in charge! She is totally, 100% in charge these days. She is strong willed and opinionated and at 15 months lets us know what she does and doesn't want.

When she is done eating something, she will push it away and shake her head no and that's it. There is no trying to get her to eat anymore of what she was eating. The good thing is that this usually happens when she has eaten most of her food and is probably full, but it is funny to watch her decide that she has eaten enough, thank you very much!

She also now decides not only when she takes her shoes on and off, but when we do as well. Usually when she comes home from daycare, we take off her coat and then she sits on the floor and starts pulling at her shoes saying, "off." We take off her shoes and then she immediately starts pulling at our shoes saying, "off." If at some point later in the night she decides she would like her shoes back on, we all have to put our shoes back on. This is interesting in the winter when I am literally taking my boots on and off 4 times a day!

At 15 months, Rhea seems to understand not only what we say to her, but also how things work. This evening, she was sitting in the rocking chair in her room "rocking" the chair. The funny part was that she is obviously too small to make the chair move, but she understood that it should go back and forth, so she moved her body forward and backward in a rocking motion! We were amazed.

This understanding also extends to her body parts. She knows where her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, tongue, hands, belly and feet are. I think this is a combination of the books we read every night and what she learns in daycare. If you ask her where her tongue is, she sticks it out. If you ask her where her nose is, she breaths out of it. If you ask her where her feet are, she points to them. I am amazed that she knows this much at 15 months. She is truly her own little person today and I love watching her personality come out more and more every day.