Peekabah

We are astounded by how many new things Esmé is learning every day. She is so determined and doesn't stop moving from the moment she wakes up until she finally gives in to sleep at the end of the day.

She's been doing a lot of standing around lately. She does have to hold on to things but will often forget that little detail, thinking that she is capable of exploring a toy with both hands while standing. And so her head has met the hardwood floor more times than we can count resulting in several bruises and one bloody nose.

Most of her standing is of course done while desperately clinging to my legs when I'm in the kitchen.

Esmé likes to chatter quite a bit, most commonly saying "bah bah!" which seems to have many different meanings. Three months ago she started saying the word "mama" but it was just random sounds. (Although it still tugged the ol' heart strings.) But lately she seems to only say it as she crawls toward me and when she wants comfort and is reaching out to me. The word varies a bit, amma, mamama, etc. but I think we can safely say that it's her first word!

Then, a few days ago Kyle was playing peekaboo with Esmé, a game which we've recently discovered to be more fun than Disneyland. They were having a great time and we were all laughing together. Then suddenly Esmé blurted out "Peekabah!" Kyle and I froze and stared at each other like, "Did you just hear...? Did she just say...?" And so her second word was delivered.

Like most parents, we are pretty much convinced that our child is a genius. Until, that is, she does something like this...

Or this...

(This is after she pulled a blue chalk painting down on top of herself.)

So maybe she's not a genius, but she sure is entertaining.