New Ride and More New Words

Our neighbors gave Rosalie a trike for a great price. She loves it!

The news continues to center around her amazing verbal explosion. The other night she was picking feta cheese out of my Greek salad--the first time she had tasted it and she loved it. So I started to help her find it too, saying, "Here you go, this one's a really big piece." She started saying, "Bii-pee!" Which evolved to "Bih Peesh!" Michael and I were astounded. Did our 17-month-old just say two words strung together? Unbelievable. For the rest of dinner, everytime she picked up pieces of feta, including miniscule ones you could hardly see, she would inform us with gusto, "Bih peesh!"

Rosalie's enunciation has been blossoming as well. This morning I was showing her pictures on the laptop, and she saw a picture of herself. She said, so distinctly and adorably, "BAY-bee." I clicked forward to another picture, and she held her hands up inquisitively and said, "Where go?" I swear I'm not making this up. It was amazing.

Here's another of Rosalie & Daddy & Trike.

A Noodle by Any Other Name

The latest, cutest word: Noodle (pronounced, "NOO-no.") Try saying this out loud and notice the unbearable cuteness.

In this pic Rosalie is identifying buttons (pronounced "Ba" in a very short, staccato way, like the first part of the word "Bottle").

In other news, teeth #7 and #8 are coming in!

Quiet But Huge Leaps & Bounds

This pic was as close as I could get to capturing a magic moment without disturbing it. While I made some lunch in the kitchen this morning, Rosalie played/worked outside by herself, completely engrossed in her important task. She worked on removing dirt from the strawberry planter, shown here, with a plastic fork. When she was able to get any dirt to stay on, she would transfer it to a nearby pot.

This magic moment was one of many interesting developments this week. Usually happy to have her diaper changed, she suddenly one day decided she didn't want to do it anymore and would run away the minute I said "Change your-."

She had a day of demonstrating her will, and it was fascinating. I saw the look in her eyes, clear as day, saying, "I don't have to do anything you say. Try me." However, it was innocent and adorable on her young face. I was equally excited and chagrined, because while it is great to see her develop into her own person, it was also sad to lose a little bit of the agreeable, helpful soul that she has become. Really, though, I'd rather have a daughter who knows her own mind rather than blindly following others. But hey. It takes more time and energy.
Here's another pic of a slightly sleepy Rosalie multi-tasking with the stairs and a cracker. She's post-pool-party here. I filled a baby pool and invited some friends over in an attempt to stay cool. Rosalie opted to completely avoid the pool after I plunked her in at first. Her friends frolicked in the water while Rosalie played with her favorite toy: mud. You go, girl.