Squiggles can talk.....

ALOT! Ever since S has discovered the power of the spoken word, she has been practicing religiously. She's now progressed to linking 3 words together and is quite often found muttering to herself.

She can point out things and say 'This is shoe'. Substitute shoe for any other word in her ever expanding vocabulary. She has been pointing out the nose for a while, but can now say 'Nose' (This is nose) as well. Alongwith 'eyes'. We're now working on the 'ears' and 'lips'.

She also said 'Good Morning' yesterday. And the really cute thing that she has picked up is that if you give her something, she will spontaneously respond with a 'Than U', said ever so shyly with a sweet smile.

Her other favourite phrase (if you can call it that) is 'No touch'. She goes around the house looking at things and admonishing someone 'No touch'. Sometimes she will touch something which is supposed to be 'No touch' and then shake her head and say 'Oooo' followed by 'No touch'.

Her intelligence is also increasingly rapidly. She will take things back to the original place, if you ask her to. She knows when it is time to go out and will excitedly point out everyone's shoes to them, in case they'd forgotten they need to wear it before heading out. She initiates peek-a-boo herself and then laughs loudly when you 'spot' her. She will point out my dad's briefcase to him before he leaves for work.

Something funny happened the other day. S was playing peek-a-boo and suddenly I noticed that she had this weird hiccupy kind of laugh. Laughing, I pointed out to my maid how weirdly S laughs. She laughingly shook her head and told me that I laughed exactly like that. I laughed back disbelievingly until I heard myself laugh and realised she was absolutely right. So, it's official folks, I have a terrible laugh! Sigh, it was better to be disillusioned :)).

You know the other thing I realised about myself recently and I know this is going to sound really weird but it's true. I went to get a hair cut a couple of months back and I was lamenting about how unruly my hair was and how everyone in the office was perfectly groomed with beautifully coiffed hair. The hairdresser said to me that it was because I had curly hair. I was taken aback. I remembered another conversation with another hair dresser a few months earlier who had said the same thing. All along, for more than 29 years I have gone along thinking I had straight hair! The question begs to be asked, what do I see when I look at the mirror? I guess I always assumed curly meant like really curly. I always thought my hair was 'wavy'. I guess there is no 'wavy', it's all curvy!! Self-deception, that is my middle name.

But coming back to Squiggles, she is also more and more spontaneous with her affection. Not just towards us, but even towards her stuffed toys or 'Toto' as she lovingly calls them. She will also point out to the flowers on the bedsheet and bestow a smacking kiss as if it is the real thing.

She has suddenly developed a need for attention and praise. Yesterday, I plonked her down at the piano and she normally will hit random keys for a couple of minutes before she gets bored of it. But yesterday, she would hit a couple of notes and then start clapping and turn around and look at us for appreciation. And she kept doing this. She wouldn't play for more than 1 second and there she was clapping again.

She has also started fake crying in earnest. If she falls down, she will start whimpering and if she doesn't get much response, then she will carry on as before. Or if she wants to be carried, she will whine for a bit. She also knows who are the suckers in the house :). The vulnerable lot get to hear more of the whining and demands!

Oh, and she now admires herself in the mirror. Often you can spot her walking towards the mirror, staring at her reflection, smiling, saying something and then turning back to whatever she was doing.

She's growing up too fast.................