...And Talking!

On the weekend mornings, I like to bring Evie into bed with Todd and me so we can spend a few minutes of quiet family-time all together before getting up and starting our busy days. This morning, Todd brought Evie and her stuffed lion into our bed and laid her down between our pillows. She was babbling drowsily to herself and to us while snuggling her lion, and Todd and I were both sort of dozing. Suddenly, she rolled over a little onto her side, poked Todd's nose, and very distinctly said "Bee-bee-bee!" Then she lay back down and resumed playing quietly with her lion. Of course, Todd and I both immediately burst into laughter.

I know I've already mentioned this here, but Evie knows her facial features. When prompted, she can find her own eyes, ears, nose, hair, teeth, lips, toes, fingers, and belly. She also likes identifying these features on her stuffed toys as well as on other people. Her favorite to find is the nose. She likes the way it can be squished and then resume its proper shape, and she enjoys repeatedly poking our noses as well as her own. When I was a kid, I thought it was fun to "honk" my dad's nose, so one day when Evie poked my nose I said "Beep!" She thought it was hilarious, and now every time one of our noses gets poked, or we poke hers, Todd and I say "Beep, beep, beep!" Lately Evie has started joining in, but since she can't hear the distinction between the "p" on the end of what we're saying and the next "b," she only makes the "bee" sound. While it's been super cute and heart-warming every time she does it, I think I was subconsciously passing it off as her just mimicking us during our silly little game. Only this morning, when--totally unprompted--she initiated the game all on her own, did I realize just how much of an impression we've been making! Once we were done laughing, Todd said "That HAS to count as one of her first words!" All I could say was OF COURSE it does; I'm so proud of my smart and silly little girl, and I live for precious moments like this.