Spelling it Out

Sister: Baby can write her name now.
Baby: No, I can't.
Sister: But you're definitely getting better at writing those e's and s's.

Baby: I can spell cat.  A-N-N-P-E-P
Me: <hahahaha>
Sister: <not even chuckling> That's too many letters, Baby. 

Friend: So, what you're saying is you want a man who is kind but not too kind, a man who is gentle but has some spunk and a man who is perfect but not a perfectionist?
Me: Well, we can see why I'm not married.

Sister: Baby, don't write your name on my door!  Where does she get this from?
Me: <thinking> At least it's not a rock on your car, like some people I know.

Baby: <finding her old pacifier> Let's give this to Gwiyomi!!
Sister: A paci is not something you share.
Baby: <putting it in her mouth> Mmjphph... <taking it out> How did I ever talk with this in my mouth?
Sister: I have no idea!  But you used to be pretty good at it.

My friend introduced this to me today.  It's a group called Babymetal from Japan who are singing a rock song about preferring chocolate over rock music.  It's ironic and kind of hilarious.  And if it weren't a metal song, I'd think this was Baby's theme song.  

Passing Through

Me: <cleaning out part of my sister's car> Baby!  You have tap shoes!  You take tap?  You do tap and ballet?
Baby: <nods and then sees a package of cookies in a bag> Yep!  And  there are these cookies here.

Me: <trying again> No, really, what have you learned in tap class?
Baby: ??
Me: Have you learned the shuffle/step?  <I demonstrate>
<Baby laughs at me>
Baby: No! Not the shuffle!  I learned how to stomp my feet!
Me: Really?  Like, just to make noise?
Baby: Yes.

(Her sister told me later that Baby has never worn tap shoes or attended tap class yet.  She made it all up)

Sister: Baby, do you know where we are going?
Baby: Sarah and Marc's?
Sister: Nope, not there.  Think about it.  I told you.  Where are we going?
Baby: <whispers> Cinderella's Castle.

Baby Comes for Dinner

Baby stopped by with her mother yesterday on the way back home from a race in the mountains.  My sister had had a rough weekend camping and running on washed out trails in rainy weather.  Baby had absolutely no complaints.

Baby is growing up so fast.  She uses almost perfect grammar and has a very good memory.  When she was playing with my mini soccer ball, I told her to go get the big soccer ball and she immediately went to the cabinet where it was located.  But she couldn't remember which door so I told her the left one and she tried opening the right door with her left hand before I corrected myself, "No, I mean, the left door."  I'm just impressed by how much she can communicate and how much she knows. 

Here are a few of our conversations:

 <I picked up my dolls from Japan and handed them to her>
Me: Now, Baby, there is a boy and a girl.  Guess which one is which.
Baby: <points to the girl> Girl.  <points to boy> Boy
Me: Wow, you're good.  Is Mommy a girl or a boy?
Baby: Girl!
Me: Is Daddy a girl or a boy?
Baby: Boy!
Me: What about your cousin?
Baby: <thinks for a moment> Her is a girl!
Me: Her?
Sister: She uses all her pronouns correctly but she won't fix that one.

<We line up three little dolls from Japan and admire them>
Me: How many dolls are there?
Baby: One, two, three, Four!
Sister: She still hasn't learned how to count objects yet.  Baby, put your finger on it as you count it.

<Baby sees a penny. She picks it up and holds it up to my face>
Baby: MONEY!
<Later, she is playing with my markers and finds an entire pile of pennies>
Baby: Oh!  LOTS OF MONEY!
Me: You can have as much money as you can count.  (She only got through four pennies)

Me: Baby, what's your favorite movie?
Baby: Pocahontas!
Sister: Huh? But Baby, you've never seen Pocahontas.
Me: Hahaha.  You're always a surprise, Baby. 

Sister: Baby, thank Erin for letting you play with her markers.
Baby: Erin, thank you for letting me play with your markets.
Sister: Did you notice how perfectly she fixed those pronouns?
Me: Yeah, that's really impressive.

 

Baby had a pink and purple hand after playing with my markers

Picture of me taken by Baby.  I didn't realize she was taking pictures.

Baby's Perspective

Missing my niece today.

Here was one of our latest conversations:
Me: Do you want to come to church with me today?
Baby: <very quickly> I already went to church today; that's why I'm wearing this purple dress.
Me: Wow, ok then.
Sister: You didn't go to church today.
Baby: <shrugs> Oh.
(As though the fact that her making up this elaborate explanation and it turning out to be false was no big deal)

My sister also told me about Baby's opinion about Stake Conference:
I don't like this church.  They don't have nursery and we don't get bread and water.

Hazy

Today, I went to the doctor to see what was wrong with me.  I've had a persistent cough for over a month now.  I kept thinking it would go away but it never did.  One of my friends suggested it might be bronchitis.  I didn't think it was bronchitis but I did think it was something I needed professional help with.

Doctor: You don't have a fever.  You don't have a virus.  There's nothing in your lungs.  And I can't hear anything wrong with your heart.  But you say, you have had this cough for over a month?
Me: Yep.
Doctor: Hold on a minute.  I'm going to go think about this for a while.

As I waited, I stared at the pamphlets they pass out to students.  Then I stared at my book on the chair across the room and wondered if I dared get off the table to go get it.  But mostly, while I waited, I wondered why my body managed to heal from the flu and somehow forgot to heal itself from a cough.  That really happens?


Yesterday, in English class, I had a very interesting conversation with a few of my students.  Not that conversations aren't usually interesting but sometimes it is hard for me to keep the conversation going and this time, it all came very naturally.  Mostly, it was my students who did the talking and I just plied them with question after question.  They started describing some of the terrorist acts around the borders of their countries and explaining a little of the turbulent history to countries that border the Middle East.  I just stared at them in amazement.  There's a whole world out there that I know absolutely nothing about!

I've been in a downright bad mood for a few weeks now.  I've tried really hard to fight it and I spend a lot of my time and energy trying to think happy things and focus on the good.  However, yesterday, one of my students looked at me, "Erin, you looked very down today.  You look like you are very tired."  I looked at her and I realized, she's right.  I'm tired.  Absolutely exhausted.  It's not just physical.  It's also emotional and social and mental and spiritual.

Once I realized I was tired, I realized why I was in a bad mood.  It's like my two year old niece who fights going to sleep and so huffs around the house in a bad mood until we can convince her to sleep.  I laughed at her on Sunday when that anger was directed my way and she refused to let me kiss her goodbye.  The thing is, am I the two-year old who should just give in and let her body rest?  Or do I need to keep fighting?

Usually, when my niece is exhausted, I put a movie in front of her to at least distract her until she acknowledges she's tired

This is the other niece who is not tired (miraculously) but I couldn't resist not putting up a picture - Here, she is smiling at her mother

 Here, she is smiling at me

The Great Beyond

Today, I finally got to see a space shuttle in person.

I was giddy.  We took our little caravan of strollers and children and people and walked into the museum.  As soon as I walked in, I immediately looked over to the shuttle.  I walked right past the SR-71 which normally stops me in my tracks.  I didn't even glance at the Oblique Wing test craft.  I just pushed my niece in her stroller towards the back hangar, whether she really wanted to be separated from her mother or not.

In awe, I crouched down next to her stroller.

Me: Look, Baby.  This is the space shuttle!
Baby: It's a ship!
Me: Yep, it is a ship.  It's a big ship that they take into space.
Baby: What is the space?
Me: You know, at night, when you look up and you can see the stars?  That's space.
Baby: Like the astronauts?
Me: ?!! Um, yes, exactly.  When did you learn about astronauts?

So, then, I'm staring at my niece in shock.  For a two-year old, that is some amazing word connection.  However, that awe directed her way was short-lived.  She next glanced over and saw the stairs and spent the rest of her time in the museum more interested in the stairs and finding an elevator than in anything else.

Typical niece.

However, I wasn't too shocked by it and my sisters let me wander around the shuttle to my heart's content, admiring the TPS and the heat marks on the tiles, the RCS jet system and the sheer magnitude of the vehicle that served as the premier space vehicle for the first 30 years of my life.

As you might be able to guess, it was a red-letter day.

Guessing Games

Watching Baby put on shoes:
Sister: Wrong foot!  You know, you'd think the odds of a kid putting the shoe on the wrong foot would be 50/50.  It's more like 90/10.

Looking at fruit in the grocery store:
Me: <pointing to apples> What are these?
Baby: Apples.
Me: Good job!  <pointing to oranges> What are these?
Baby: Apples
Me: Nope, they're oranges.  <pointing to limes> What are these?
Baby: Carrots!

Playing with her toys:
Me: What is that?
Baby: <hands me a bear that has a green jewel on it>
Me: Hmm...<I turn it over> Oh!  It's your birth month!
Baby: No, it's not.  It's a bear!

Me: Who is that? <pointing to her backpack>
Baby: It's Dora!
Me: Who's her friend?
Baby: Boots.
Me: And who is Erin's favorite character?
Baby: Green!

Baby: I'm bigger than Mommy.
Me: You're bigger than Mommy?
Baby: Yep!  I'm bigger than Erin too.
Me: Oh, really?
Sister: Yesterday, she said she was as big as Mommy.
Me: Ohhhhh.

Me: Wow, Baby you jump as high as Mommy!
Baby: Mommy needs to jump.
Sister: No, I'm cooking.
Baby: Mommy, I really want you to jump please.
Sister: Ok.  Here I go.  <jumps>
Baby: <claps her hands> Yay!

Snowflakes and Swings

Baby refuses to be associated with babies.  If you mention babies, she gets very defiant, "I am not a baby."  If you mention that she was once a baby, she asserts again, "I am Not a baby."

For an aunt, it's difficult, not because I don't want to see her grow up, but because babies like to cuddle and nieces, who are asserting themselves as independent beings, less so.  

But still, we have fun. 

On Christmas Eve, I looked out the window and noted it was snowing.  "Baby, get your boots and coat on! Let's go play in the snow."  She went and put on her boots, adorably on the wrong feet, which I didn't correct because it was too cute and it didn't actually matter.  She put on her coat and out we went to turn our faces up to the falling snow.  

I tried to show her how to catch snowflakes on her tongue but she just laughed at me as I dodged around on my knees trying to catch one so she could see.  

Then we headed over to the playground nearby where I pulled off a layer for her so she could sit on a dry swing and I swung her.  For her, the higher she swung, the better.  However, I wanted a picture of her swinging with the snowflakes swirling around so it was a race to push her high enough to appease her and try to get a picture at the right moment (and of her smiling) before she demanded that I return to my pushing spot and resume my duties.  

Soon enough, she was tired from the swing and tired of having snowflakes hit her in the face.  (She kept saying, "Eww.  Icky"  whenever they landed on her)  So, I suggested she try the slide next.  I took my shirt and carefully wiped down the slide so it wouldn't be wet.  She boldly marched up the stairs, took a few cautious moves towards the slide and let me convince her that it would be fun.  

Down she went, faster than she had ever gone down it before and she flew off the end of the slide and landed on the ground with a plop before I even had time to put out my arms and catch her.  She started crying, more from shock than from being hurt.  Immediately, I scooped her up in my arms and apologized for convincing her to go down the slide.  I rubbed her back and kissed her cheeks and then I paused and realized what I was doing: my little miss independent was letting me hold her and coddle her!  She let me carry her all the way home and we made comments to each other about the snow and the slide and the swing.  Then, when we got home, I told her that the thing to do after playing in the snow was to drink chocolate so she settled down to a glass of cold chocolate while I settled down to a mug of hot chocolate.  

She and I went downstairs to try to settle down for a nap in which we watched one episode of Dora and one episode of Diego because I told her that Diego was my favorite and she insisted on watching something I liked.  

Baby may be growing up but she'll never stop being my Baby.  I love being an aunt. 

Purple!

It's been a few months since I last saw my niece.  I keep hearing stories though - how much she talks and most especially, how much she voices her opinion.  Seeing her this weekend gave me a chance to look at the world through a two year old's eyes.  

(1) My niece's (she actually still lets me call her Baby) favorite color in all the world is purple.  She not only feels the need to tell you this multiple times a day and insist on wearing, watching and using purple things but she likes to just say Purple!  at random points during any conversation.  It comes out sounding like some awesome version of beat poetry.

(2) Last week, while doing some shopping, my niece fell in love with some Dora Necklace.  When they got home, the Niece kept asking for it and her mother told her, "If you want it, ask for it for Christmas."  Now if you ask her what she wants for Christmas she immediately responds, "Dora necklace!"

(3)  My niece now carries around a rather large collection of toys with her at all times.  She has always carried around Teddy, a now ragged pink bear that has been washed and dried so many times, I marvel that it still has some life.  But to add to that, she also insists on Baby Teddy (a smaller version of Teddy), Purple Baby (it's given name is Purple) and Princess Tiana.  It's quite a lot to keep track of.

(4) When my niece met my newest niece (four days old and quite the cutie although I still haven't settled on a good nickname for her), we all wondered how she would take it.  On the way up to see the little one, we would have these kind of conversations...

Me: Where are Sarah and Marc?
Baby: At their house.
Me: Where is Baby Naomi?
Baby: In Sarah's belly.
Me: Nooo...she's not in Sarah's belly anymore.

When we got to the house and my niece got to meet Baby Naomi, we all watched her cautiously.  She didn't say anything for the first several minutes and then very wide eyed announced, "I have a baby too!"

I looked around for her toys, thinking she was referring to Purple Baby or Baby Teddy.  Instead, she lifted up her shirt, "In my belly!"

We all laughed so hard, some of us (i.e. me) cried.  I think she was so excited and shocked that babies simply come out of someone's belly that she wanted one too.  Once she realized the baby took a lot of attention away from her and was a lot of work overall, I think she quickly dropped the opinion that she had/wanted a baby of her own.

(5) From then on, my niece started calling Baby Naomi, "Pink Baby" because she was in pink.  "Mommy is holding Pink Baby and I am holding Purple Baby."

(6) To give the niece some attention, I took her downstairs to watch a movie.  She found a tube of lip balm and came over.

Baby: What is this?
Me: It's lip gloss.  [I didn't think she knew what lip balm would mean but I know she knew what lip gloss was]
Baby: Oh, good!

She takes off the lid and starts applying the balm to her lips as we watch the movie.  I watch her and silently chuckle to myself.  She applied that lip balm for a full ten minutes, running it back and forth from one check to the other, mostly missing her lips.  Baby looked over and saw me watching her.

Baby: How does it look?
Me: Pretty
Baby: Want some?
Me: <laughing> Nope.  Thank you.
Baby: <self-satisfied smile> You're welcome.

I cracked up and she found the lid and put it away.  Then three minutes later she pulled it out again.  "I think I need some more."

(7) She loves making phone calls.  She found a remote controller for some baby monitor and carried it around as her cell phone.  She kept calling, "MY Papa" where she would have short conversations that were short, included a lot of uh huhs and ended in "Okay, I love you, Bye bye."

(8) She is snarky but I can't figure out if it's on purpose or not.

Marc: Is your mommy holding you?
Baby: Un-uh
Marc: Did you have pancakes for breakfast?
Baby: Un-uh
Marc: Did you have fun?
Baby: Un-uh
Marc: Can you say un-uh?
Baby: <shakes her head>

Me: What color is that?
Baby: Blue
Sister: How do you say 'blue' in Spanish?
Baby: Ummm....
Sister: You know this, it's 'azul'
Baby: Azul
Me: Can you say 'white' in Spanish?
Baby: White in Spanish.

Life

Administrator: What are you doing in this building?
Me: I'm looking for Post Awards.
Administrator: They aren't here.  You know that.
Me: Yes, but they move around so often, I don't know where to find them.  I thought if I came here, I might find someone who could tell me where to go.
Administrator: They're in Small Hall now. 
Me: See?  It worked. 


Me: Time to take a nap Alexis.  Here, lay down next to me on the couch and watch this episode of Dora.
<I doze off>
Minutes later...
Alexis: Catch the stars Dora!  <claps her hands>
Me: <waking up> Well, I guess I'm the only one sleeping in this arrangement.


Me: What number is on my shirt?
Alexis: (whispers) Seventeen.
Me: WHAT?! Seventeen?
Alexis nods.
Me: Did you really just say Seventeen?
Alexis nods.  
Me: Baby!  My love!  You got it right!!  How did you know??


Talking with a new student in my English class:
Student: (in Chinese) Do you get to practice your Chinese much?
Me: Nai, nai, nai.
Me: <thinking> Uhhh...that was not English or Chinese but more like pretend Japanese.  Oops.

Baby No More

Tonight, I talked with my sister and niece on Skype.  As a two year old, she has finally insisted on not being called Baby anymore and I am trying to learn to follow suit.  Here are some of the things that had me and her mom laughing. 

The Niece: Happy Birthday Dora!  Happy Birthday Dora! Happy Birthday Dora!
Me: Whose birthday is next?
The Niece: <gives me a confused look>
Sister: Daddy.
The Niece: No...
Sister: Yes, his birthday is in October.
The Niece: No birthday.
Sister: Can't mommies and daddies have birthdays?
The Niece: No Happy Birthday!  No Happy Birthday!
Sister: I don't have a birthday?
The Niece: No Happy Birthday!
Sister: What about Erin?
The Niece: No Happy Birthday!
Sister: What about Nolan [boy from daycare]
The Niece: Happy Birthday!
Sister: What about [names other kid in daycare]?
The Niece: Happy Birthday!

So, adults can't have birthdays - only kids and cartoon characters.

In other news, my niece is now obsessed with the color purple.  She even asked her mom to go to a purple store on Saturday.

She also likes dance class and swimming at the pool (which she calls 'cool')  and when she does something she's proud of, she solicits her own "High Five!"

And, if it's even possible, she's even prettier than the last time I saw her.  

Parks and Recreation

Can't get over how adorable my niece is.  Please pardon the glut of pictures.

 This is the Niece longingly looking at the kids swinging on the swings while she eats her dinner.

 These pictures are all of Baby smiling while she's swinging.  It's actually pretty hilarious watching her swing.  She loves it the entire time but after a few seconds of it, she forgets to keep smiling so she looks quite bored.

 There is actually a picture of my niece looking at the camera and smiling too.  However, I like this one better.  She just adores her Mom.

 Baby shows no fear when it comes to climbing things.

 Or sliding down things.

 She's also learning how to wait for me to take her picture.

Two Much?

This weekend was a weekend with the niece.  I don't know how her mother doesn't stop laughing because the Niece is hilarious.

For one, she's very agreeable even when she shouldn't be.
Sister: Baby, do you  remember Erin teaching you particle physics?
Baby: <nods her head>
Me: Baby, do you remember the stock market crash in 1929?
Baby: <nods her head> Yep, in '29.

But she's smart enough to catch on to our games.
Me: Do you remember the invention of electricity?
Baby: No
Me: Do you remember the invention of indoor plumbing?
Baby: No
Me: Do you remember the invention of the internet?
Baby: No

Secondly, her favorite number is two.  I don't know if it is her actual favorite number but if you ask her a "How many" question, her go-to answer is two.
Me: Baby, how many belly buttons do you have?
Baby: Two!
Me: No, count your belly buttons.  How many do you have?
Baby: <holds up one finger> Five!
Me: No, you have one belly button.  One!

Of course, this backfired on me, as it usually does.
<Later, during Sunday school>
Me: Baby, can you give me one <hold up one finger> cracker?
Baby: I have one belly button!
<She lifts up her dress to show off her belly button>
Baby: Look, one!  Belly button!  Belly button!  Belly button!
<I just put my head down and laughed.  One of my sisters had to jump in and say, "Yes, that's your belly button" or she would have continued talking about it>

Third, Baby hasn't quite figured out colors but she certainly tries.
Me: What color is this ball?
Baby: Blue!
Me: Good job!  What color is my phone?
Baby: Pur...Pink!
Me: No, it's orange.

Fourth, she has some definite opinions.
Baby: Sarah!  You, me, outside, now!

Sister: Where's Sarah?
Baby: <points at Sarah>
Sister: Where's Erin?
Baby: <points at Erin>
Sister: Where's your cousin?
Baby: No cousin!

Baby: Cookie!
Sister: Do you know the name of this cookie?
Baby: <eats the Oreo completely unconcerned with its name>
Sister: It's called an Oreo.
Baby: NOT Oreo!
(Oreo is the name of my sister's cat)

And last, she gets excited over the littlest things.
Baby: Wallet?
<I hand her my wallet.  She starts taking things out of it>
Me: Why don't you look for Wookie?
Baby: I finding Wookie.  I finding Wookie.  <she searches through my wallet for the super junior card>
Baby: Wookie!  I finded Wookie!  I finded Wookie!

Night and Day

MH: Attended Fujieda Higashi High School which is famous for, among other things, its soccer program and putting out great soccer players.

Me: Attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, whose name alone probably serves as an explanation of the school's focus. 

MH: Never attended college.  

Me: Never stopped attending college.  

MH: Started his first real career path job at age 18.  

Me: Has yet to land her first real grown up job.  (No shame, honestly.  I don't regret my stints as a custodian, pizza-maker, dry cleaner, pruner or TA in the least) 

Me: A rocket scientist.  

MH: Not a rocket scientist.  

MH: Speaks German, which is a distant cousin to English.

Me: Speaks Chinese, which is a very distant cousin to Japanese.  

MH: Wrote the number one bestselling book in Japan for 2011.  

Me: Dreams of publishing something one day.  (Although I can claim second/third author on a few journal articles) 

MH: Adores his niece.

Me: Adores her niece.  

Even two people who are as different as night and day can find something in common: Nieces rock!

Baby's curious face

Me and my niece - taken by the niece

Have Baby, Will Travel

This is how my niece has handled the week.

Eating an Oreo: Pure Enjoyment 

Tuckered Out

Me: What song do you want to sing?

Baby: Spider?

<We sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider x5>

Baby: Twinkle?

<We sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star x5>

Me: What next?

Baby: Spider?  

Me: We just sang Spider.  Try another one.

Baby, thinks for a few minutes: Twinkle?
(I promise she knows more than just two songs)

Pretty baby admiring the pretty baby while brushing her teeth

The cutest picture ever. 

Baby, admiring herself in the mirror

Me: Who is that?

Baby: Lexy (but when she says it sounds like 'sexy') 

Baby, admiring a picture of herself

Me: Who is that?

Baby, pointing at herself and then at the picture: It's you!

Self taken picture - she is slowly improving.  

I love her smile.  

Me: Can you say 'Mississippi'?

Baby: Sippi!

Me: No, Mississippi.

Baby: Missippi!

Playing on Great-Grandpa's porch

Me and the Niece

Me: Do you want to take a shower with Sarah?

Baby: Yes!

Sister: Baby, if Sarah were to jump off a cliff, would you jump too?

Baby: Yes!

Milk - taking the straw in and out of the
cup was her favorite thing to do
during the meal.  

Playing at Nichols Park in Jacksonville, IL

Me: No really?  If your friend were really going to jump off a cliff, you would just follow?

Baby: Sarah? (looking around for her)  

Looking at me like I'm crazy for taking so many pictures of her

Teddy: Her best friend, except when
anything caught her eye

Baby: Teddy fell!

Me: Well, yeah, he fell.  Because you pushed him.  

Baby: I pushed Teddy!

Me: Haha, well, at least you're honest about it.

The end of the trip

Before the Storm

Yesterday was a good day that started with a hike and ended with me spending a glorious hour with my niece.  

Here are some highlights from my niece who is now talking quite well - not in sentences but she uses a lot of words.  

I ask Baby is she is thirsty and pull out a children's monkey cup.

Sister: Oh, that's the same one she has at home.  Look Baby!

(Baby proceeds to get very excited about the cup and I proceed to only fill the already small cup 1/3 full)  

(Baby walks around the kitchen shaking the cup around so excitedly that all the water spills out)

Baby: Oh!  Water!  (as though "How did that get there?"  "Why is the floor all wet?")

Me: Can you say Sarah?

Baby: A Sawa (short for Aunt Sarah).

Me: Can you say Marc?

Baby: Marc.

Sister: Can you say Erin?

Baby: Yeah.  (as though even asking such a question was an insult to her intelligence) 

We play with some bubbles.  I blow one towards Baby's face but it goes straight into her eyes and pops.  

I cringe, waiting for her to start crying;  bubble solution probably stings.  

Baby: Oops!  My eye.  Bubble! 

I've decided I need to teach the Baby Chinese.  

Me: Baby, 你想要睡覺嗎？

Baby turns around and points at her mother.  

I slap my hand down on the bed with a laugh: Oh Baby, that was a question, not a statement about your mom.  (She heard me use the question particle, 'ma' and thought I had said 'Ma')  

Baby slaps her hand down on the bed in perfect imitation of me and laughs.  

可愛くてしょうがない

At nineteen months, my niece is showing more and more of her personality.  She is just so much fun.  Whereas I felt from day one that she was a stubborn and determined little individual, I never expected to find that she also loves to help as much as she can.  I also can't figure out if she is highly risk averse or not.  For instance, when she was learning how to crawl and walk, she was always very cautious and possible even slowed her progress by insisting she always had a foot behind her in case she fell.  But then during this process, I once turned around to find her rocking her heart out in a child's rocking chair and then just leaning forward in the chair to reach down to get her toys on the ground below.  She continues the same pattern at nineteen months in which she shows hesitancy to jump because that requires both feet leaving the ground but she shows absolutely no fear running around on a moving and stopping subway train which should cause just as much uncertainty on her feet.

In any case, I am pretty smitten with Baby.  Here are a few scenes from the weekend:

(1) During dinner on Friday, I had the niece in my lap facing the table and was feeding her rice.  (She can feed herself but the large spoon in the restaurant was unwieldy and too big for her mouth)  If I tried to feed her something other than rice, she would shake her head and I would laugh and put it in my mouth instead.  Baby decided to try her hand at feeding herself and I watched her scoop up a little bit of rice on her spoon and put it in her mouth.  Then she took another spoonful and tried to feed me.  However, since I was sitting behind her, the result was that she threw the rice over her shoulder and onto me (and the floor).  I couldn't stop laughing at the result of her desire to help me out but had to put a stop to the mess she was making.

(2) My niece likes to use the phrase, "It's hot."  She knows that if we hold up food and say, "It's hot" that she is supposed to blow on it before she can eat it.  She has learned that this applies to more than just food.

While on the computer and putting in my thumb drives, the drives would light up red when they were running.  My niece put her hand on them and said, "It's hot."  I smiled at her.

She tried the next thing the next day on the subways when she saw the blinking lights lining the platform indicate the doors on the subway train were going to close.  "It's hot.  It's hot."  She was less than thrilled that we wouldn't let her go out of the subway and touch the lights.

She tried to describe something else as hot - she put her hand on an elevator window and insisted, "It's hot."  I touched it and found that it was actually cold.  "No, it's not Baby.  Nice try."

(3) Baby loves pictures of herself.  Looking at pictures of herself, I asked her, "Who is that?"  She smiled and pointed at herself, "Me."  I nodded.  "Yes, it's You!"

Later when we were looking at other pictures of her, I asked her the question again, "Who is that?"  She pointed at herself and, imitating almost perfectly my voice from before, said, "It's You!"

I am really good at confusing personal pronouns for my niece.

(4) My niece decided to try dressing herself.  After putting her in her pajamas, she took the clothes we had just taken off her and tried to put them back on.  She managed the skirt pretty well.  But then she tried to put on the shirt the same way she put on the skirt.  All of us adults just sat back and laughed as she maneuvered herself into this second "skirt" and then stood up and tried to walk around.  We tried to show her how to really put on the shirt but she couldn't manage more than just putting it on her head like a hat.

(5) Her mom and I tried to get her to sing songs with us to keep her occupied on the car rides, subway rides, and walking.  The first time we tried If You're Happy and You Know It, she was on board with us and completed all the actions in time with us.  It was adorable.  However, when we got to the third verse and she realized that we did something different from her, she just glared at us and refused to finish the song. Her look seemed to say, "Even the younger babies at daycare get it right.  Why couldn't you?"

(6) We went to a fancy bakery for a dessert on Saturday and splurged on a few cupcakes to share and a few macaroons.  Baby insisted to getting a bite of one of the macaroons so we handed it to her and let her take a bite.  She decided she didn't like it and squished the macaroon in her hand, crumbling it into small pieces and then brushed all those gooey crumbs off her hand over the side as the stroller while us adults tried desperately to take the remains of the macaroon out of her hand before they were lost.  What is one baby's trash is another aunt's treasure.