How did we ever function before K could speak?? It seems like SO long ago, though she really only started to take voice at around 15 months. I decided that I am going to start writing down the things she says before I completely forget.
So, the first thing I recall her saying that made me laugh was back in April or May '06. She was touching my arm, saying "Up, Down-bown. Up, Down-bown." Then, she touched my elbow and said, with great enthusiasm, "ELBOW!" and kissed my elbow :).
Around July, it became apparent that, not only did K like to listen to Goodnight, Moon at bedtime, but she also had it memorized. We started to leave off the words at the end of phrases, and she could fill them in for us. We then tried this with Cats! Cats! Cats!, a much longer book, and were amazed that she could even fill in words like "jitterbug!" Soon, K was actually able to help me recite pages of The Cat in the Hat and she could even complete phrases from the end of the book, demonstrating that she actually had just about the whole thing memorized!
K can easily count to 10 in English and has a pretty good grasp of 1-10 in German, too. She also enjoys parroting 1-10 in French, Spanish, and Japanese. We use her counting skills to help her understand when we're going to be leaving her room at bedtime, when she requests a "quickle one to six" - where we tickle her face and count to 10. When the tickle's over, she says "Mommy sleepy, Daddy sleepy" which lets us know that she knows we're leaving her to have her sleep.
One of the most amazing demonstrations of K's grasp of things happened just the other day. We're having a fence put in, and, knowing K's penchant for watching heavy equipment and construction machines work, I had her look out the window as the fence men used their auger to drill the post holes in the ground. From her bedroom window, K looked down at the backyard work and said "Cement in there." I figured that B had talked with her about the fact that they'd be pouring cement in to set the posts, but, as it turned out, he had not. We have NO idea how she knew that that was going to be part of the process!
Last night, when we went out for dinner, K kept telling us that she wanted us to make plans to see Jennifer and Max. She said "See Jennifer and Max on Saturday." We've never really even discussed the days of the week. She then said "Jennifer and Max on Sunday." It's incredible how much she picks up just from being around! Kind of scary! At dinner, we ordered her some Palak Paneer, which we thought she might like, since it's got two of her favorite components - cheese and spinach. She took a couple bites and proclaimed to herself, "This is horrible!" :).
Today, I was commending her on her many skills. I said, "Baby, I love you. You know why? Not only are you sweet, but you are so capable!" I said, "Say 'I'm capable!'," which she did. About an hour later, I was putting away dishes from the dishwasher, and K wanted to help with the dishes in the top rack, saying "Help Mommy." I said, "Nope, sorry Baby. You're not big enough to help me with the top rack, but you can help with the bottom rack." She said, matter-of-factly, "I'm capable!," and I nearly passed out! :)
