At the beginning of January, when classes resumed at daycare, Cora's teacher sent me home with a list of milestones that she wanted Cora to reach before moving her up into the 2-year-old class. As I read through the list, I told Ms. Lois that Cora could already do all those things, except for the last one. So now that she's officially moved up (and it's going well - she had a very good first week!), I thought I'd write out those milestones, for documentation purposes:
1. Runs
She started walking at 12-months and was running after her big bro by 15-months
2. Throws a ball overhand without falling
She's been doing this long enough that we don't remember when it started (and we didn't know it was a milestone, so we didn't bother recording the date)
3. Builds a tower of 5-6 blocks
She does better with Legos and
Geokid blocks, but she can build with wooden blocks too
4. Completes a 6+ piece puzzle
Puzzles are one of Cora's favorite activities, and she's really good about finding the right pieces for each of the 4 puzzles we keep in our windowsills and placing them in the correct spots
5. Looks at pictures in books and turns pages
She's become more interested in books since she turned 18-months, reading to herself as well as bringing them to us to read with her, and she's able to not only turn the pages, but to point out and name many things on each and every page
6. Points to 5 or more body parts
OK, let's count the body parts she can point out: head, hair, ears, eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, teeth, lips, cheeks, hands, fingers, feet, toes, knees, shoulders, belly, belly button, butt (and she also knows vagina and penis - yes, I just typed that...), and she can name them all too
7. Uses spoon with little spilling
She started using a spoon around 13-months and had it pretty well figured out by 15-months
8. Speaks 20 words
Please, we have SO lost count - she probably has at least 100 commonly used words now
9. Uses toilet when taken by an adult
This is the one she hasn't mastered yet, but she does go willingly and sit on the toilet, and so far she's peed in the potty once, so we think potty training might not be too hard with her. But only time will tell. It's bound to help now that she's in a class with lots of potty trained toddlers though - peers who lead by example carry heavy influence, even at this young age (monkey see, monkey do)!
(In case you're wondering what she's up to in these photos, James recently taught her how to be a "gate" and use the magic password, which is "please". She doesn't fully grasp the concept though, and just stops randomly around the house to put her arms out. Not that she can reach both sides of a door frame at the same time anyway. Silly little baby. She's so dang entertaining!)
The kids had a Valentine's Day party at school, complete with treats and cake (and valentines, of course). They wore shirts that I made for them (using the Silouette, and patterns I purchased from their online store). James loved his "Robot with a heart" and has been asking to wear it since Saturday. I made Cora's print a tad too big though, so I had to iron it from shoulder-to-shoulder to make it fit. It still looked cute on her anyway.
