a quick update

From a letter written to Colleen this afternoon:

First, she has come up with so many words. I don't know how they happened, but suddenly, there they are. She says "ghen" for "Gwen" - it's so funny to hear her say it, too. I mean, usually we are saying it with a slight (or not) tone of admonishment in our voices, and she is able to match us tone for tone. "Ghen!"

What else is she saying? "Whoa!" is huge right now. And, although "hot" was one of her first words, she now uses it to describe pretty much anything she is unsure of, especially a particularly odd texture, like a bumpy rock. I guess more than words is what she is able to understand. She puts things away when we ask her to and she puts them in the right place! And, the other night, she pulled out a shoe from my closet and put it on my foot, indicating that she'd like me to put it on. I asked her to get me the other shoe, and she went and pulled out its exact match, even though the shoe was upside down in a pile of other shoes! She then went on to do this with two other pairs.

And, she loves shoes, especially her red shoes. They were sitting on the couch last night, and she got up and put them back on the side table where we keep them - moving each, one by one, until they were where they are supposed to be. My little organizer!

A funny thing: this morning I was trying to get her to brush her teeth with me. She was sitting outside of the bathroom, watching Jay get out of the shower and get ready. I asked her to look at me so I could brush her teeth. She ignored me. I said, "Saaashaaaa. Let's brush our teeth." She refused to look in my direction. I tried a few more times to get her attention, but she knew what I wanted and she was having none of it.