Proud Mama

I've just been overwhelmed today at everything my little girl does. Just today, three times she has very clearly expressed herself without prompting. In the past if we wanted her to say a word we would say it and she would parrot it back at us. Or we would point to something, like a squirrel, and say, "squirrel", and she would respond "qor". I guess there are four things because yesterday she walked over to the window overlooking Amma and Papa's deck and said, "qors?" There weren't any outside at the moment and she was asking for them :).

This morning she finished off her juice and I asked her if she wanted more. There wasn't much of a response so I went ahead and refilled it and, holding it out for her, asked her if she wanted more juice. She replied, "No, no juice." Her first official little sentence!! We've come close with saying "nigh-night" or "bye-bye" to people but nothing this clear. I was so proud.

Then, later this morning I was wearing my USC sweatshirt. About a month ago I started pointing to the letters saying, "U S C". She started responding "Trojans" and knew she was supposed to do something with her fingers but couldn't quite figure it out. This morning, without any prompting, she looked down at my sweatshirt while I was holding her. She pointed to the letters and said, "S C, S C, Trojans!" Then she formed her fingers into the Victory sign, a la Adeline (it looks more like an ASL letter "F" than a "V") and started waving her hand around. Once again, Mommie was amazed :).

Finally, she was upstairs playing a few minutes ago and discovered, amongst her Christmas gifts, an unopened package of the soap we use for her bath. She took it over to Alan and said, "Nakie!" and tried to start taking her clothes off. Alan said, "Do you want a bath?", and she replied "Bath" and ran over to Amma's kitchen sink (where she bathes when she's here - she doesn't like the full-size tub). She wanted a bath! It was the cutest thing.

It just amazes me the concepts she's beginning to understand and the things she says. I'm not naive enough to think that my daughter is the smartest cookie in the world and clearly exhibiting signs of genius at age one and a half. I'm sure this is basically just the life stage she is in. But after so many months of wondering what it would be like to have a little person running around the house who thinks and does and says what she wants to when she wants to, it's pretty crazy to finally be there. My baby is growing up! And soon enough she will be the big girl in the house :).