A-May-zing May

Well, our little Madilyn turned 15 months in May and she began talking up a storm. It was right around the 15 1/2 mark that I noticed that her vocabulary had just exploded. She started talking as if she had been saying these words her whole life...just that now other people could understand her, too!
She now loves to wander around the house looking for our kitty saying, "Dusty...go?" "Dusty...go?" She holds her right arm up and turns her palm to the ceiling as if gesturing to me, where did he go? It is the cutest thing! She has started to say Thank you more consistently and often.
I have been working with her at least 20 times a day on not whining for things she needs or for help. We have been working on saying, "help and stuck" I wanted her to be able to tell me when she needed my help with something or if she could do it herself but the item was stuck. I just wanted her to be able to communicate with me what she needed from me to END THE WHINING. Some of the hand signs were just not working for us, so as a last resort...I have been constantly talking to her and asking what she needs. You will be glad to know that my diligence has paid off. I no longer have a whiny, toddler...I have a little girl who can ask for help and tell me when things are stuck. It was the most exciting day when she brought me her toy house and said, "up" It was her version of "Help!" She now brings me everything she needs help with-without whining- and if she can't bring it to me she will tell me, 'Stuck" Language is a beautiful thing!
Some of the words that are now in her vocabulary are:
apple, nana (banana), ball, kids, girl, turtle, binky, binky for blankie, baby, awhh, shoe, orsie (horsie), duck, kitty (then she will add the sound effect "meow") , puppy ( then she will add a "woof woof" and a short pant with her mouth open and tongue out!) of course the regular mama and dad, daddy, papa, pop. She can also now say Gr-ma and Gr-pa. She loves to say, Hi-ee, and Bye-ee (hi and Bye). Her favorite expressions are, "Oh wow!" ,"Uh oh" "what's dat" "shhh dad-ee seep" (with her finger in front of her mouth)
I am sure that I am missing some of the others, but as she repeats them I will add them to the list.
Her other special thing is that she loves to watch the Backyardigans. It is the ONLY show that I allow her to watch...sometimes we catch Sesame Street, but I really didn't want her watching TV until she was 2. Well, when she got RSV in April and we had to do a 20-30 minute breathing treatment on her....we found that the only thing that would calm her down to finish the treatment was this show. After 2 weeks of treatments 4 times a day...she was hooked. Now we DVR all the shows (watching only 1 episode a day) and she will dance in a circle with her hand above her head-just like the characters-when the opening/closing song is on. The cute part is that all you have to do is sing that song and she will dance anywhere we are! These are the little things that make you realize that your child is smart, funny, and growing up too fast!