Our little miss is 15 months old today. We're certainly not going to celebrate every month with some sort of party, but it is a moment to take a pause and appreciate how far she's come in just six weeks with us...and to appreciate what a joyful and intelligent child she is. We took her for her first visit with her regular pediatrician (15 month old check up) and the doctor was very pleased with her development, noting how very verbal and smart she was, commenting that we are certainly going to have our hands full. (We realized that during our first visit with Maeve). Going through the developmental checklist, the doctor asked if she was speaking 4 to 6 words. We both laughed out loud. She knows a lot more than that and has only been hearing English for 7 weeks. Other people may not be able to perfectly understand all of her new words, but we do for the most part. She uses a lot of the words to communicate and some others she just repeats when we say them. She almost always at least attempts to say the word. So, Mark said that I should write down what she has learned so far. This is as good a place as any :)

Words she knows how to use in context:
Mama & Mommy
DaDa & Daddy
Hi (waves)
Bye Bye
More (wants food)
Up, please
Banana ("na nana") loves it and asks for it.
Diaper Time
Night Night ("ni-ni")
Baby ("Beh bee")
Kah-Kah (trash or dirt)
Happy (wants to sing "If you're Happy and You Know it")
Cheese (for picture, not food)
Vacuum ("vacooom"- she has a love/hate relationship with it)
Elmo
Uh-Oh
The Amharic word for "come" is Ney (pronounced Nay). She'll grab you by the finger and say "Nuh, nuh"


Repeats (still learning):
Milk ("ick")
spoon
shoe
bath
all done
zipper
eye

Games:
The dog says Woof, Woof! ("Woo,woo")
The cow says Moooo
The duck says quack, quack ("Kak, Kak")
Plays Peek a Boo
Where are you're eyes? (points to them)
Where is your nose? (sniffs)
Blows kisses
We count and hold up our finger. "One" (she says "Two"). We say 3, 4, 5..and she gives us a high five.
High and low fives on request.
Loves dancing. Mark taught her to tap her foot, which she does very exaggerated and I call her Irish dancing.
Claps and says "Yea!" when we're all done with food or if she hear applause or cheering.
Helps me put clothes in the dryer and trash in the bin
Likes to draw and hold the pencil perfectly after Mark showing her once.

Maeve pretty much never stops talking/babbling unless she's asleep or had a bottle in her mouth. She is very animated and seems to know perfectly well what she is saying, even if the rest of us don't. :)  We just can't wait until we can really understand at least some of what she says.