Will You Look at This Face?

It's been happening since she turned one. She's a girl turned towards progress. New words every day-her first sentence an emphatic: "No bite!" New ways of getting from point A to point B like clomping around in her sister's shoes, and running. She is always busy, putting the straps of her bathing suits around her neck to hang cape-like. Of course there's also the chalk eating. Each time I squeeze chalk-tinged drool from her cheeks I feel utter exasperation-she won't stop doing it! We've broken into the box of Julia's 18-24 month clothes, which it feels like she just wore yesterday.

Now t.v. holds her attention for at least ten minutes, but usually not more. The sight of the two of them lying captivated by a show is so dang cute I sometimes just watch them watching t.v. and forget that's my ten minutes to DO SOMETHING I can't do when they're not otherwise entertained. She says "Elmo" and "Nemo" when pointing to her sister's coloring books and likes to climb up and extract the "color!" from the drawer all by herself. She is learning to drink out of a cup and practices much to my dismay in the bathtub. Now she will cock her head to face my face and ask, "Doing?" as though to inquire about my current activity.

She loves to point out birds flying by,("BIRDIE!") and anything shaped like a semi-circle is declared a "moon." She leans in for kisses when asked only some of the time, but when she's in her highchair will demand "HUG" with arms outstretched to Julia. And the way she says, "Jooge!" One of the best positions to find her in is her little crouch as she sniffs flowers. She says a bright, "Hi!" to the polaroid of Julia and her preschool teacher hanging on the fridge. I am constantly wanting to fix her haircut, which she actually lets me do. She also lets me give her medicine in droppers, which Jooge never did. In new places, she will cry her heart out if I leave her for even a minute. And when we go apple picking she demands her own "apple" and we give it to her, even if she might choke on the peel.

Oh the sweetness that is our Bub.