Raegan's newest accomplishments

Boots with The Fur :)

You guys, Raegan is amazing. I swear I'm not just a doting first-time mother. She is just that smart, and sometimes I'm in awe of her. :) She has the boots that I have pictured on the right. Yesterday she put them on completely by herself, with no coaxing or help from anyone. I was at the gym, and Luke said he looked down and she had her boots on all of a sudden. I know that putting them on the right feet by herself was just a fluke, but putting them on unassisted? Pretty dang smart. It's a skill you want a 3 year old to have mastered, but 2 year olds can do it if you work with them.

Raegan is also starting to put two words together, which some 18 month olds will do, but is considered closer to a 2 year old skill. She says "No Daisy" (no Day-ee)  and "Hi Bubba" a lot, and she will say "all done" sometimes after eating. Her vocabulary is huge, and growing every day. She's starting to say "thanks" and "thank you" (tank and tanka) unprompted (I model it for her every time I give her more food or do something for her, and she signs please unprompted whenever she wants more food or us to read a book to her or help her with something. Her new words lately (besides all done and thanks) have been cracker (cra-uh), fish (shish and does the sign for it), and teeth (tee). She points to her ears, nose, mouth, hair, belly, feet, and hands, and sometimes she will grab her tongue when you say tongue. She does the sign for all done, more, milk, please, fish, and she's really trying to do the sign for cracker, but she taps her wrist instead of her elbow.

Raegan's also very helpful right now, and LOVES to put away her coat at daycare and home, and put her dirty clothes in her basket. She wants to help me put away her laundry, but usually just throws wads of clothes into her drawer that I then have to refold. :) At daycare she puts her own cup in the dishwasher after meals and walks out to the van by herself when they go places.

Alright, I'm off to go look at gifted programs for my toddler. lol Just kidding. I'm not a big fan of pushing your child just because they are smart (i.e. Your Baby Can Read program). She's getting all of this just from being talked to and read to and loved every day. I tell the parents of my students all the time that it's not hard to raise a smart kid. You just have to put some time into it, and you don't have to do anything crazy like flashcards or drilling them. Make it fun and meaningful and they'll learn. :)