Communication

It really is amazing the things we take for granted in each other, and how quickly our views may be forced to change. In the last 6 months and 1 week, we have gone from being the frightened parents of a newborn to being parents of a little girl. From talking to each other about the baby, to talking to HER...and she responds.

If she is in her walker and you say "Come with me, Eleanor", she will trot along happily behind you to wherever you're going. I've found that if I tell her what I'm doing once or twice, she recognizes the action later. For example, I make coffee every morning, and the grinder used to scare her a little. I started telling her that I was making the coffee and the grinder would start before pushing the button, and now, as long as I tell her? She's fine. She'll even trot over to the coffee maker in her walker and wait for me in the morning as she knows that's my first destination.

I know to anyone who isn't a first time parent, these musings are probably a bit "old hat", but it just is so awesome to me to see my little girl understanding, and even trying to communicate back. Last Sabbath, as I was changing her diaper, she put her hand on my arm, waited until I looked at her, and said "Mama"; she then patted my arm twice and went back to chewing her duck.

And now to brag, because that whole stream of consciousness thing above was not bragging...really! But this morning, when she heard a toy squeak like her ducky? She said "BUCKY" and when Hubband tried to put her down after a diaper change without some liquid refreshment, she said "MAMA!"...and when she sees Priscilla? "UPPAH"

We joke that we're going to be like the mom in that cell phone commercial who has the chatterbox daughter and finally at 12 gives the kid a cell phone in self defense...except that I can't imagine ever not being interested in what she has to say. I can't imagine not wanting to hear about her views of life and the world. I may get tired of the WAY she says it, or if she says the same thing 20 times in a row, but I doubt it. Talking and communicating is such an amazing thing, after all (don't you like how I went from commentary to bragging and back to commentary so neatly? It wasn't planned, I promise). And could a writer and editor ever REALLY be tired of words? Especially those spoken by a miracle.