happy (chatty) ellie

Eliana is still not walking. But boy, is she talking.

I've lost count of all the words now. There must be close to thirty all of a sudden. Yesterday we added "bath" (the clear TH surprised me). Today, Tim tells me that she added the words "honey" and "hug" while I was out teaching. (Can't be gone for even four hours, can I!?)

We've been hearing a lot of requests for "bubbles" and "apples" and "cookies" (a LOT of requests for cookies, though few given) and "Maia" and "walking". Of course, "walking" to her still means "hold both my hands while I whip around the room with glee."

But the word that tickles my insides the most is when she randomly declares, "Happy." It started when I went to pick her up from her nap a few weeks ago. Her face lit up as usual when I entered the room, but then she decided to also articulate how it made her feel about the prospect of being picked up: "Happy!" Talk about melting a mother's heart. Ever since, she's been using it at random moments just to let us know when she is especially content. Don't you just love that?

Today at lunch, she started talking about one of her favourite people and how she feels when she sees him. I'll let you see for yourself.

And to think that before motherhood, I used to think kids didn't communicate much for the first couple of years.... !