Update on Ensley

Ensley is changing so much so fast so here is a quick recap.

Communication

Last Tuesday when I picked her up from daycare she was asleep so I rubbed her back gently to wake her up. When she opened her eyes she popped up and said "Momma". That was the first time I really thought she might have said a word on purpose. That afternoon I was putting clothes away in our bedroom and she crawled in to the room, looked up at me, and said "Momma" again. Then today, EJ brought her to work to visit me and one of the technicians said "Did you come to visit Mommy?" and she turned and looked at me and said "Momma". So "Momma" is going down as her first word.

We think she is saying Kala too, but it comes out more like "NyaNya". We think this is her version of Kala because she says it when Kala comes into the room and repeats it after us.

I haven't heard her say "Daddy" yet, but mainly because when he comes in the room she just squeals in delight.

She is also starting to shake her head. This is not something that we have done with her a lot so I think she has picked it up at daycare or the nursery. Most of the time she does it at appropriate times too. For example, yesterday she crawled over to the back door and when she reached for the blinds I said in a stern voice, "Ensley" and she turned to me and shook her head. I said, "That's right. That's not a toy. Come play with your toys." and she did...coincidence? I'm beginning to think not. Also, yesterday we were playing upstairs and I thought she was handing me a block so I reached out to take it and she put her death grip on it and shook her head. Who knows what she is thinking and if she really knows what she is doing?

When someone says "Bye" she will usually wave without much prodding, but "Hi" takes a little more encouragement. She also waves just to let you know she is still here and wants to make sure you don't forget it...and it is really cute.

Eating

She loves feeding herself and she is willing to share her snacks with you but it is usually after she has slobbered all over them. She puts her hand out with a snack in it and sometimes I'll take it and say "thank you" and sometimes I'll say "You can eat it" and she doesn't make you say it twice...she'll eat it up in a hurry if you offer it back to her.

Playing

When she hears music she bounces. Sometimes she requires a prompting but a lot of times she just starts bouncing. She likes music and especially nursery rhyme songs.

She has been banging two blocks together for weeks but wouldn't clap empty hands together until this past week. It is so cute! When she does anything that she thinks is praiseworthy she claps or if we say "YAY!" she will usually clap in response. And she gets so excited and crinkles her little nose...oh my goodness! Can you tell how much I love her?!

Her daycare told me where I could find her favorite ball, so we went on an adventure to find this ball. When I found it I bought a backup in case we misplace this one. She is too funny with the ball. She army crawls with it so she doesn't have to put it down. It is a good accessory for her...it really brings out her eyes, don't you think?

We are trying to get some video of her doing all of these cute things but usually by the time we get the camera out she is done. And I know that all kids are the cutest and do the cutest things so don't bust my bubble and just humor me in my thinking that she is THE cutest and best...but she really is :)