She gets it

Well, there aren't really any new words to announce this week. We can add "Nana" to the list, and for some people I suppose this is a big one. I'm now convinced that when she says "Nana" she means my mom.

And it's not a word, but whenever she falls down, bonks her head on something, or bonks an arm/leg/whatever, she'll look at me or Khan and pat her head. So she made up her own sign for "I'm hurt." Cute.

Beyond that, the cool thing that we've noticed this week is that we're starting to see how much she's understanding. When I was in college, we actually learned -- like had a professor lecture about -- "comprehension precedes production." I thought it was such a stupid discussion to have. I mean, duh, right? Well, I guess the real message behind that discussion is because the production is behind, we don't realize how much comprehension is there.

Khan and I were talking about this tonight, comparing notes. You should've seen how fast Lily's head whipped around when I was telling him how she knows "Mommy will be right back" means "Mommy's stepping out of the room for possibly more than a whole minute." She snapped her head around and toddled over to me to make sure that I didn't mean it.

Yeah, I've discovered the real meaning behind "teething hell." I can feel a sharp little bump in her bottom gum, and if that weren't bad enough, she's recovering from yet another cold. (I know I often sing the praises and benefits of daycare, but the constantly being sick is a major drawback.) These things combined has turned my sweet happy baby into a snotty, drooling, irritable, clingy mess. She's still my little love, but I cannot wait for those damn teeth to cut through or this cold to go away. I feel bad for her, it must be awful. And I don't blame her for wanting to be held all the time, but it's really getting hard. She threw herself on the ground crying tonight because I walked into the dining room while she was in the living room. If you've never been to my house, you should know that this means I was never actually out of her sight.

Anyway, I digress. I was telling you that she knows what it means when I say "Mama will be right back," because she instantly clings tighter, fusses, and shakes her head. Khan said she did the same when he was dropping her off this morning, except he told her in Laotian. Cool.

Then tonight, I was reading to her about Dimity Duck and Dimity Duck was "wiggling." When I read that, she smiled and started to wiggle, too. So I joined in and she got a good laugh out of me looking like an idiot.

There are tons of other examples, but the point is that I think she understands most of what we say. Yet another reason to quit cussing.

And this is just for my official Tuesday records, so nothing new, but here's an updated version of her current vocab:

Uh-oh
Mama
Dada
Nana
Bubba
Buh-bye
Eddie
Up up
All done


And she signs:
Milk
More
Eat
All done
Her made-up sign for "I'm hurt"

Other:
She waves hi and bye
She wags her finger to say "uh unh uh" for "no"
She shakes her head "no"
She puts her finger to her mouth and says "shush"

Amd that's what Lily's talkin' 'bout this week.