By Leaps and Bounds

We are playing outside this evening, just like a lot of other evenings. Tonight there is a little nip in the air, fall is setting in already. But that's not what has my attention tonight. No, tonight I am absorbed in watching this little creature who I call my daughter. I know her intimately, better than anyone, other than maybe her father. I know every look, every action, every babble, they are all familiar to me, a part of me. But tonight everything about her just seems a little foreign, a little strange. It seems that literally overnight my baby has become a full-blown KID.


Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Kami, you are such a mush. You are always talking about how little G is just growing up too quickly, how time flies and you blink and suddenly you have toddler...blah, blah, blah. Sweet, but it's getting a bit trite." I know that's what you're thinking. But that's NOT what I'm trying to say. Sure, it does feel like the last 21 months have just flown right by. I absolutely can't believe that tiny baby is getting so big. But what I'm noticing tonight is the pants that fit her two weeks ago are now too short. Her hair is long enough to put in pigtails. This was not possible in early August, I tried. Her face is thinning out. Even my mom remarked how different G looks after 10 days away.


And it's not just her physical appearance that's growing. Suddenly her vocabulary has tripled. She's stringing words together, two and three at a time, sometimes more. She's naming everything she sees in her world. Her favorite game this week is "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, (insert person, place, thing here.)" Hi spoon, Hi peach, Hi home, Hi book, Hi Mommy. That's another thing. She called me "Mommy" tonight. Not ma, not mama. Mommy. For real. She's starting to say harder sounds. Tonight she says, "mix" while watching Blue's Clues, and she gets the /x/ sound right. She tells me, "monkey, swing" as she hangs the little plastic monkey from his trapeze bar on the animal train. Speaking of trains, she hears the train whistle from the tracks a couple of blocks away and points while saying "tray!" Last month I was trying so hard to get her to say "yes" appropriately when asked questions, instead of always "no." Her hesitant little "yeah?" has transformed this week into a confident "yep!" (No doubt she picked that up from her cousin Dante.)


She's been best friends with Max, our dog, ever since we returned from the beach. She calls him, "Ma-cks! Ma-cks!" and runs away so he'll chase her around the room. This is another new favorite game. She started playing it with her cousins last week at the beach. Tag. I chase you, you chase me. We giggle hysterically. Her play tonight seems so much more mature than before. She gets her baby doll and snuggles with her in a chair. She gives the baby a "bankie" and a "ba, dink!" (blanket and bottle/drink) and says "night, night, shhhhh" while rocking in the chair. While outside she plays another favorite, "up inna sky" while throwing (or asking one of us to throw) first her green ball, then her hula hoop, next herself up in the air. She climbs and balances on her slide. She has pretend conversations between two of her little people.


I notice that lately she has been needing me less as she does more and more on her own. But at the same time it seems she needs me more, too. But in a different way. Now she needs me, specifically, as opposed to just needing someone to care for her or help her. She seeks me out. She needs my reassurance. Or, she chooses someone else. She is practicing control by choosing who will do things for her like get her juice or rock her at bedtime. There are consequences if her wishes cannot be met. Big, screaming consequences.


All of a sudden I have a kid. She likes Dora and can tell me all the characters names after watching the show three times with her cousins. She sings the songs for me while we're at the beach. She coughs and automatically puts her face in her elbow, just like the big kids showed her to do. She tells me "Night, night, Mommy" as I put her to bed. We've never really said "night, night" in our house. But that's what her cousins told her every night last week before bed.

She is watching, copying, learning with amazing speed. Literally overnight.

(This post is inspired by my bloggie buddy, bessie.viola, who loves a good sappy post!!)