Verbal Odds and Ends (for those far away)

I love weekends and Mondays- the former is pretty obvious, the latter maybe more subtle, but it's actually because those days (mostly) are Daddy Days! Rebekah just lights up then, knowing that she gets extra time with her favorite guy! I joke about how much she says Dada, but I truly love it. In fact, Saturday morning, Josh roused earlier than I to hear her jabbering with intermittent "dadas" thrown in the mix. He couldn't help it- of course he went straight in- so precious! Even in my hazy, just waking up state (I sleep hard), I can tell the exact moment he goes in by the delighted "Dada!" that is squealed...Plus what's sweeter than hearing your man read your baby a story and peeking in to see her look up at him and grin, right before he tucks her in with a song? Love it. Last week, I rocked her to sleep for her nap (just the process of her snuggling in for a long hug is worth anything) and that night she lazily looked up at me and played with my hair while I sang her a song. Does it get any better than that?

She is almost all smiles or all intense concentration. I love to watch her double over in laughter as Dada tickles her or flies her upside-down, but I also love to see her determined, furrowed little brow as she studies something. Josh and I think she has managed to get a lot of each of good qualities- my eye sight, his hearing (PTL), my love of textures (Josh noticed yesterday at the mall that she reached out and grabbed every new material possible while I did likewise behind her, completely unaware- today she dragged her sweet little hand across every wall we strolled by), his curiosity, my passion, his attention to detail- seriously, you should see her fine motor skills as she turns something over and over as discovers how it works.

This morning Amanda tried to get her to sign please for something (Amanda loved R's full-body sign) and as she asked Rebekah to sign it, Rebekah simply said "please!" She is so verbal! She says shoe, Mama (rarely), Dada, Sam, yak (animal in her book), baby, bbs (blueberries), bb (blankie, note it is singular so as to be distinguished from bbs), please, book, uh-oh, no (frequently), & yes (not too often). This is my favorite stage so far!

Additionally, it has been a time of much cognitive correlation- she sees a baby and says baby. She sees us and calls us by name. She saw a dried wreath of bluish berries on our front door and said bbs! She calls Sam by name. She drops things and says uh-oh! She was playing with the refrigerator magnets and there's one of my mom for real estate and I asked her where's Grandmama? and she picked up the right magnet! She can bring you a toy and distinguish b/w animals. I am amazed at how much and how fast they learn!

I will work on more pictures, I promise! Too many words, not enough photos, I got it!