A. Rae's Adventures

Our little A. Rae is growing so much! She has learned so many wonderful things in just the past few days. Allow me to enumerate.

1. The Nutritional Value and Delectableness of Certain Foods

We have been truly blessed with such a great eater. No matter what it looks like, she eats it. And will mostly always respond to the question of, "How is it?" with a resounding, "Nummy, nummy, nummy." Spinach, radishes, fish, salad...you name it, she will eat it.

A couple days ago, she crawled up to me and declared, "Nummy, nummy," with no prompt from me. I didn't think too much of it at first. (She is often finding crumbs of yesterday's meals on the floor. I know, I know. I need to sweep them up more. The following story has really driven this home to me.) I usually check what she is eating. This thing seemed a bit big for her mouth. So I opened it up to find a giant MOTH!! in her mouth. All black and powdery. Yuck! Why did she think it was "nummy"? It took a couple good wipes with a paper towel to remove the menacing residue of this unsuspecting insect. (I have also caught her trying to stick a live fly in her mouth. Where does she think up these things???)

2. Knowledge is Power

Sign language has been a lifesaver in our home and I highly recommend it. It has been a long process (I started signing "milk" at 3 months.), but the rewards are sweet. Slowly, she has been able to learn and sign properly many words.

• Milk
• Please
• More
• Food
• Drink
• Thank you
• Yes

And just two days ago we can add to the list

• Potty!!

We are currently potty training her and have been doing so since she was 7 1/2 months old. Crazy, but so great! I can't handle poopy diapers, and this way, I hardly have to deal with any! So her being able to sign "potty" is a great step in the right direction. She is so smart! Now she will be able to tell us when she has to go or doesn't.

3. Children Are Amazing (Especially Mine)

I sing a song to A. Rae every once in a while about the alphabet and the different sounds each letter can make. As I sang it to her yesterday she repeated the sounds for A, B, D, F, M, N, P, T, and Y! She is only 13 months! Some of them were just attempts, but others were implicitly clear! We certainly have a smartie on our hands. Man, I love being a mom.