The Latest Developments

As Lily gets older, we get more glimpses into her personality. The latest thing we have discovered about her is that she is fuss-y when she wakes up. You have to spend a considerable amount of time with her after she wakes up just holding her and allowing her to wake up slowly, in her own time. Many people will appreciate the poetic justice of this latest development, especially my mom. I used to be, let's just say, not so pleasant upon waking. Fortunately, I've outgrown this, but I definitely had some memorable moments due to my own struggles with waking up (Janie, Sara and other high school friends will remember back to our trip to New Orleans). I guess that now begins paybacks as a parent and thorough enjoyment as a grandparent.

Lily has two other new amusing tricks: taking off her pants and understanding (if not responding to) the word "no". Lily's teachers have reported that when they put her in her crib to take a nap, she promptly removes her pants. Why? Who knows..spite, boredom, or any number of other reasons. Lily's current favorite forbidden fruit is Terra's food and water bowls. She, of course, makes a beeline toward them anytime we are in the kitchen. She reaches out for them but will pull back when I say "no". We then continue this game of her reaching out and me saying no until I physically remove her from the temptation. Little stinker.

Other words that we are fairly confident that she recognizes/understands are: her name, Terra, and kisses. Although these things are very subjective, Carl and I decided last night that the first official word that she has said (other than the dubious "da da" and "ma ma") is "duck". We think that she has tried to say "Terra" but this is way beyond her current linguistic abilities. One thing is clear: she now tries to mimic what we are saying. Even if she doesn't get close to making the sounds that she is aiming for, it is still a very cool development.

I was just commenting today on one of my tours of our daycare is how exciting it is to be the parent of a child in the Toddfant Room. This is where most of our children learn to be proficient crawlers, take their first steps, say their first words, give their first wave, and so on, and so on. It really is an exciting time to be a parent.