Bye Bye Baby

I think the most amazing thing about being a parent (and forgive me for getting a little cliché here), is watching Eily blossom from this defenseless, immobile, generally unaware puddle of pudgy cuteness into a brave, toddling, curious individual, complete with her own unique personality. These days, it seems she progresses closer and closer to a "big kid" at the speed of light. Case in point: yesterday morning. I set her down on her feet on the living room floor, and out of the blue she walks five steps. As if this was no big deal at all. As if she'd been doing it for years. Only after Jesse and I began shouting "Yay!" and clapping did she turn to look at us with a huge grin on her face, realizing she'd done something special.

Okay, so maybe we're falling into the typical parent trap, oooing and ahhhing over ever tiny accomplishment. After all, it's not like she just discovered the cure for cancer or anything. But honestly, spending every day living life through her eyes has made me realize just how many things most of us take for granted - like the power to support our own weight under our legs and walk across a room without toppling over. Again, falling into the pit of cliché, it's like discovering the world all over again.

What surprises me even more, however, is the tremendous leaps of faith she is willing to take as she navigates her way from unsteadily standing and letting go to lifting a foot and taking a step forward. She knows she's going to fall. You can see it on her face, no real surprise as she loses her balance and her knees buckle beneath her. And just as soon as she is down, she clambers back up again. Rinse, lather, repeat. I look at her and realize she is the perfect example of perseverance. There's a lot to be learned from our little pint-sized powerhouse.

So, with all her determination focused on mastering the fine art of walking, one would think Eily had filled her new skill quota for the day. But just to be sure she'd sent the message home that she is no longer a "little baby," she pointed out that she can say her name. It's not crystal clear, and usually comes out more like "EYE-EE!" (yes, complete with exclamation point), but she says it nonetheless.

Now I know, this is a bit of a stretch. Maybe it's just a new sound she likes to make. Maybe she just hears us say it a lot and wants to mimic, not really knowing that "Eily" is the word to use when talking about herself. We weren't sure either, so we tested the theory. When we held up a mirror, she would point and say her name. Then she saw a picture of herself and said it. I pointed at Jesse, and she said "Daddy." Pointed at her reflection or her picture again, and she said her name. Pointed at one of the cats and heard her excited whisper of "Ti-Ta" (Kitty Kat). After playing this game for a while, Jesse and I have agreed she really does recognize her name as a label for herself.

At first, I was blown away by this. The more I think about it, though, it's around age one that kids begin to apply labels to the world around them and then try to communicate using their new vocabulary. So while she's a little ahead of schedule, it makes sense that she's suddenly become so communicative. In addition to this most recent lexical entry, she signs for "milk" without hesitation and understands what it means if I sign it to her first. She made the sign for "more" for the first time that I could recognize yesterday and beamed when she got exactly what she asked for. She will wave, unprompted by me or Jesse, whenever anyone enters or leaves a room. I can practically see all the little synapses in her brain firing away with every new connection she makes. This is something I find absolutely fascinating; the power of the human brain to make the leap from simply experiencing the world to communicating ideas about the world through language.

I'll stop before I totally geek out about the whole thing (but really, it is SO cool). Suffice it to say that I am totally amazed and, I'll admit a little sad, by how grown up Eily is getting. But along with the bittersweet thought that my baby is getting big comes the excitement of being able to share the world with her and watching the light in her eyes as understanding replaces her confusion about this mysterious big world she's found herself in.

And now, as a reward for reading through all of this, here's a video of Eily saying her name this morning: