Chatty Cathy

In the past week, I think C has gone from saying twenty words to two hundred. It's as if she has been storing them away until she could use them properly, stringing them into tiny toddler phrases like "I stuck," "It's my puppy," "It's all gone! More peease (please)," and "Shhhh. Night, night, puppy."

She is getting really good at her colors, surprises me with letters of the alphabet we have yet to practice, and counts to nine (give or take a couple numbers). She tells me what she wants (and what she doesn't) with confidence. Her favorite snacks right now are oranges, pickles, cheese, or goldfish ("fishies") and she points to where they are stored and politely asks for them with a "peeeease" (please).

She sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" all day long. 

She is obsessed with animals and can identify oh so many as well as tell you their respective sounds. I can't even name all of them, but some of her favorites are puppies, cats, bunnies, cows, donkeys, horses, pigs, ducks, geese, elephants, lions, bears, birds, penguins, dolphins, and monkeys. She now requests to sleep with all of her "puppies" and has a crib full of her friends every night. She has started instructing Banks to do tricks. She often tells him to "come" and pats the floor next to her. She tells him to "sit" and "shake" and "eat, eat" for treats. Sometimes he listens.

Role play is new to our little world and C now takes care of her baby dolls and all of her stuffed animals. She lines them up and feeds them "apples" and "milk" and narrates while doing so. She tucks them in and says, "shhhh, night, night." She kisses and hugs them and then brings them to me to kiss and hug. She got a Disney princess castle for Christmas and loves to play with her princesses and tell me "princess" as she points to each one. We call Daddy at work and she excitedly tells him about playing with princesses and balls and puppies and blocks, kisses the phone, and tells him "bye" or "night, night."

I've been talking to this little girl her entire life. It's nice to finally hear her sweet voice talk back.