Watching Her Understand More

Emy is incredibly smart. She was eating solid food ahead of the curve, drinking from cups ahead of the curve, balancing on things like a dare-devil, verbalizing and formulating near sentences, repeating things she hears, and memorizing books I read to her. 

Sometimes, it is truly incredible to see all the things she knows, can do, can communicate--and sometimes, it is incredibly overwhelming, because you know that she probably has no shot of slowing down and potentially will continue picking up new things at a breakneck speed. 

These are moments you never forget. Very early, we taught Emy the sign language for "eat", consistently using it at meal and snack times, and she caught on that signing it meant we would get food, and she picked up the word "eat" pretty quickly to follow. That evolved to knowing the word snack, and being able to go to the cabinet that is conveniently child-proofed where a plethora of snacks are hidden. She doesn't abuse these, either--thanks to routine and knowing her own signals, she typically asks for food around meal times and snack times without prompt. 

But her memorization is amazing, too. Mr. Brown Can Moo is a story we've traveled through many a time, and I decided if she liked me reading the book so much, she needed to help me with the sounds. She can do almost all the sounds, and sometimes I won't even have to read a page for her to point and do the sound herself. Another book, If You Dare Little Bear, is a newer one where she picks up the sounds and sayings extremely fast and loves helping me read through the pages. 

Then comes the movies or the TV shows. We do our due diligence to ensure we don't plop her in front of the television or a tablet, but we do put on some of your typical Disney classics. Emy sings and dances with Beauty and The Beast; loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; She can also repeat Nursey Rhyme tunes to a degree. And ever bit of it is amazing.

You also try to empower them more at this stage. My wife and I like to give Emy the opportunity to pick her outfits (within reason...or as my wife would probably tell you, she overrides me because I sometimes suck at matching clothes, lmao). Sometimes we give her snack choices. I always give her the option of picking what book I'm going to read to her. 

But as it continues, sometimes it is hard. Time keeps ticking, more and more of baby sheds away, and more and more you realize that she is becoming a little girl. Little girls are different from tiny baby daughters. You realize that soon, her wrapping her hand around a finger or two to walk you to the toy room is going to get bigger. You realize the cute was she says "Mister" (Mee-tur) will become solid English. It's a very bitter-sweet thing to witness.