Vocab and discipline

Annabelle is exploding with language. She is repeating tons of words, can understand most simple questions or commands, and spontaneously saying more and more each day. This is SUCH a fun phase of her life!!

Words she can say on her own (though some only I am able to understand);

More
Open
Up
On
Milkies (wants to nurse)
Monkey and it's corresponding sound
Dog
Giraffe
Moo (cow)
Baa (sheep)
Tweet tweet ("what does a bird say?")
Meow (cat)
Jesus
Angel
Light
Apple
Out
Diaper
Ball
No! (her favorite word)
Yes
All done
Bubble
Dance
Tree
Sleepy
Thank you
Eyes
Nose
Mouth
Bee
Brrrr!
Uh oh!
Mess
Help
Ok
Dada
Mama
Ar ar (seal noise)
Turtle
That (as in, what's that?)
Dip
Duck
Tomato
Deeya (quesadilla)
Muuuah! (kiss)
Baby
Pumpkin
There

That's all that I can think of for now. She also signs "sorry" when prompted, but doesn't say it. If she doesn't know a word or how to communicate what she wants, she gets irritated very, very quickly and starts to throw a fit. We are working on it. When she is starting to lose it, I say, "look at mommy's eyes." very firmly, and that gets her attention and looking at me, so we can usually figure out at that point what needs to be done, or what she needs. It seems to be helping.

She is still too young to be thinking about MUCH discipline, but we are definitely considering some. I am a big fan of gentle discipline techniques, and think spanking or any form of physical reprimand is very wrong. (But that's another blog post for when I am feeling brave ;) ). So, we are attempting to implement "natural" consequences to things. It doesn't make sense to take away a toy or privilege that has nothing to do with the original offense, in my opinion. So, for example, if Annabelle's coloring on the floor (or dishwasher, refrigerator, cabinet...), she gets two warnings: "Annabelle, look at mommy's eyes. (wait for her attention) We color on paper. Here is your paper. If you color on the floor, crayons will go bye bye." After two warnings, if I KNOW that she understands and is just choosing not to listen, the consequence occurs. In this case, the crayons get taken away. She usually throws herself on the floor at that point, and I pick her up, hug her, and verbalize her emotion ("you are feeling frustrated/mad/sad/disappointed/etc. it's okay to feel (emotion)"). Then I say a quick prayer for her, and tell her why the crayons went away, and then redirect her attention somewhere else. So far, it is working decently well, given her age and ability to understand things.

I am definitely loving every minute of parenting this little girl--even the tough ones! She is just more be more amazing every day to me.