Monday, September 26, 2011

It's Happening.

Pimento is starting to talk, gesticulate, and stand on her own.

Granted, the three "words" that I've understood so far (all today!) are variations on the "ee-ee" theme.  Kitty, doggy, and pretty.  I should probably count "mama" and "dada" too, since she says them frequently enough, though I've dismissed them both as baby babble for a while.

Her greeting gesture is an open-closed-open-closed fist, and it's the same motion for animals or people.  She mixes in waving, sometimes with both arms flailing together.  Flapping.  She is the Little Bird, after all.

I'm trying to be consistent about teaching her sign language for things like "eat", "more" and even "diaper change", while infrequently remembering to sign "drink", "light" and other notables.  She may have attempted to sign back, though it's a work in progress and I can't say for certain.

There can be no doubt, however, that her desire to communicate is strong.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" she yells, "I have something to saaaaaay!"

The surprise of her standing on her own coincided with her desire for big sister's awesome new toy, a Lite Sprite.  This ingenius playset comes with a "magic wand" that uses an electronic sensor to collect color from anything, display it, and then transfer said color (from up to seven feet away!) to a little plastic fairy with LED lights inside.  Really cool stuff, and it gives Peach a huge thrill to have that kind of power.
 
Anyone who has ever encouraged their babe to crawl by placing an expensive electronic device just out of reach will be familiar with the sudden inspiration to achieve milestones when there's something verboten nearby.  And so, she let go of my fingers and reached eagerly with both hands, stable on her own and ignorant of the expected-but-missing support.

I have no doubt the colorful, flashing, light-up toy in question (which Peach is enamored with and not eager to share) will be all the motivation Pimento needs to start walking.  Which leads to running.    

Oh, God.

No comments:

Post a Comment