Martha at 16 months

Quite an exciting summer our Martha's had so far, and she seems to be loving it. So far this summer she has: journeyed to the UK, around it, and back; visited the beach and surveyed her new bunk bed and room; and been camping in Kings Canyon. Along the way, she has begun to demonstrate exciting new capabilities! We find it amazing whenever she shows that she understands something new and are working hard not to be ridiculously proud of our 'genius' daughter. Although Adrian maintains she does not say any words, really, I disagree: she seems to have a rotating vocabulary, which means that she only says one word at a time, then gives it up in favor of a new one, but she has definitely said several words already. I don't think it's sensible to quibble over pron(o)unciation really, do you?

Words in her repertoire:
baww! (currently a favorite, meaning ball); eeow (for cat); bo-bo (for peep-bo, the British version of peek-a-boo); nooooo (an extended, multisyllabic word, a la John Edwards--meaning 'nose,' and accompanied by a semi-accurate poke of said organ); 'eh' (for ear); and a very onomatopoeic rendition of clock, which she utters by clcking her tongue (think xhosa bushmen).

Martha also follows directions quite well--that is, she understands them, and currently enjoys showing this off more than she enjoys being contrary, although we've begun to see a bit of the latter as well. Told to bring her water bottle in from the other room, she'll be away for ten minutes searching, then come back happily sucking. I wish I could remember what I'd gone into the room for for that long! She also recognizes Gustav Mole, which she will unearth from a huge pile of toys and bring to one, singing 'lo lo lo' the while in decent approximation of Sibelius (the music I sing whilst playing the Mole).



She's begun to be more snuggly and even gives closed-mouth 'mm' pecks on occasion. And she still likes books, more and more, returning to certain pages which she knows to contain cats or balls in order to read them.

One of my delights in Martha is her increasing expressiveness. She makes a lot of unintelligible syllables but the intonation is quite clear. She is also becoming a bit of a loudy--in impatience for her mandarin oranges (her preferred fruit at the moment) or in glee as she taps a drum she can really yell!


We went with Gramma to visit the ducks and coots at the West Malling Country Park.


On one of the few dry evenings in West Malling, we enjoyed dinner (from ASDA, not Tesco) al fresco .


Daddy bundled Martha through a kissing gate near Uncle Tim's house.


Back in California, Martha had a nap in Cousins Jenny and Matthias' garden.


Uncle Chris and Auntie Rachel were naturals with Martha--really funny and interactive. Here they are on the sand outside the beach house in Seacliff.




Dining al fresco again, this time with Grampa W and Grammy P at the beach house.


We took several walks on the beach, and Martha investigated the kelp thoroughly.




On our camping trip to Weaver Lake close to Kings Canyon National Park, Martha wore herself out with exploring the granite and pines (and suffered a bit from diaper rash).


The lake was quite warm. Martha paddled a bit.