So I put these updates off with the intention of weaving a nice tapestry describing all the things she’s done. I always want to make these posts tributes to my little daughter, who’s more like a real little person every day. But I never quite manage it, and by the time I figure out that this round of updates won’t be the prose masterwork fitting for Lennie, too much has accumulated for me to do any of it any justice in the time I have. So once again, here’s a quick run-through of the last month or two’s worth of neat new things. This is mostly ripped straight out of an email M sent me reminding me of some of the things Lennie does.

There’s a parrot in the house. She said “sit” one night recently when I said “shit.” She mimics us more and more, trying to repeat pretty much anything we indicate we’re trying to get her to pronounce.

She is following simple directions.

• Give Mommy a kiss.
• Hold my hand.
• Sit down.
• On your booty
• Have a seat
• Bring it here.

When we say one, she says two. She also mimics the ABC song. She tries to keep up with the motions to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” She loves “Wheels on the Bus,” and sometimes when she hears music, she tries to sing along (with nonsense syllables, but roughly mimicing the rhythm).

She kisses and hugs.

She smells flowers.

Words she says (there are no doubt dozens more):

• up, down, no, dat un (that one), der(there)
• water, cheese, apple, (ba)nana, peach
• bird, kitty, doggy, duck, mama(monkey), horse, pink piggy, fish, turtle, camel
• baby
• moon, tree, book, flower, thank you, bye bye, hi,
• Mama, Daddy, Ella, Zac, Abbey, Ash(le)y, Bo-Bo, Deda, Moby (the dog)
• nose, eye, belly button, booby
• ball (and the question “Where’s your ball” directed at the dog)
• shoes, hat
• bite, sip

Words she knows (among many others that don’t spring immediately to mind):

• hand, foot, chin, cheek, mouth, tongue, ears, head
• star, breeze

Animal sounds she knows:

• cow– moo
• pig– snort snort (she actually sort of clicks her tongue because she can’t do the sound, but she knows it’s something going on in the back of your mouth sort of near your nasal passages)
• bird–t(w)eet t(w)eet
• chicken– bock bock bock
• doggy– woof woof
• mama (monkey)– who who who
• snake– sssss
• donkey– hee haw
• horse– neigh (sounds like a laugh when she does it.)
• sheep– (b)aaaaa
• bear, lion–roar
• elephant — holds her arm out vaguely like a trunk and vibrates her lips while making a high pitched sound; I don’t know what this sound is called; it’s sort of like a raspberry but without the tongue

She’s recently started feeding herself with forks and spoons, and she’s pretty good about asking for what she wants. She’ll point to apples and say “apples,” for example, or she’ll point to something else she doesn’t have a word for and say “bite.” Occasionally, she’ll bust out and sign “more” for something.

She can climb into the chairs at her little table and onto the couch and my chair. Yesterday, she climbed into her car seat unassisted for the first time, though when she got there, she wanted to celebrate by turning around and looking out the back window and was not at all pleased when I started trying to strap her in.

Karen gave her her first real haircut this weekend (M did a little trim a few months ago), and it makes her look so much more like a little girl than like a wispy-banged little baby. She and Ella played really well this weekend for what seems to me like the first time. Usually they’re aware of each other and interact a little (often hugging and kissing), but there was a real connection this weekend. They were running up and down the hallway chasing one another and giggling.

Lennie is very strong-willed, and it worries us a little. She’ll insist on pushing buggies when we’re at a store, for example, or she’ll have a melt-down if we don’t let her walk. We’ve started trying to work around this sort of thing by adding closure. This doesn’t work for things like the walking (which is inconvenient if you’re in a hurry), but for example, we can say “bye bye buggy” as she clings to a buggy for her life, and if we get her to start waving bye bye to it and to realize that we’re moving along without just ripping her away from it, she handles it pretty well.

Guess that’s it until next month, when I’ll no doubt have another disjointed progress post.