Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bittersweet Brilliance





Quilla is one smart cookie.  I am sure every parent feels this way on a moment to moment basis as their child all of the sudden morphs into a little person from his or her infantile stages.  At 16 months, my daughter has a vocabulary of 75+ words, 35+ ASL signs, walks, runs, jumps, dances, sings, and can do a somersault.  While her progress may be completely normal, it's insane when you think about the fact that only a year ago she could barely belch on her own without assistance.  There are moments in the day when I am in sheer awe of her genius.  Today was one of them.

Since we moved to Texas, Quilla has been exposed to a LOT of animals.  We are in the heart of farm country, so I'm taking advantage of our current resources!  Quilla and I have visited farms with horses, cows, chickens, goats, ducks, rabbits, pigs, ponies, donkeys, mules, turtles, llamas - you name it!  She can name at least 30 animals, and when she's in the mood, can imitate most of the sounds that they all make.  I thought I was so clever in my hands-on approach at this part of her education until this evening.

Quilla chasing geese in Mission, TX


I love dinner time.  I love it even more now that Quilla is not only joining us at the table (in her Inglesina chair) but she is also eating the same food that we are eating.  It's so nice to relax and enjoy our quality family time at the table instead of rushing about the kitchen preparing multiple meals for baby/the adults.  We all feed ourselves now, and it's quite civilized ...  Normally.
Tonight, as I placed one of Quilla's favorite meals (turkey and asparagus) on her plate, she promptly began throwing turkey bombs on the floor and said, "NO bak-bak Mommy"!
I can only assume she thought we were eating chicken (bak-bak) and she has (clearly) all-to-soon connected the dots between the chicken on the dinner table and the beautiful gray and white chickens she chased at a horse farm earlier this week. Guess I'd better thaw out a steak for tomorrow night - safer.  Shame I am no longer a vegetarian.  pfff!

After dinner I decided that instead of her normal swim in the claw foot tub, I would take a shower with her before bed since we both need to wash our hair.  When we finished, I stepped out first and then reached down to wrap her up in a fluffy towel, but she refused me.
"No, Mommy" she said as she squatted down on the shower floor.
"What's wrong my baby?"  I cooed at her.
"POTTY!" she said as she peered down at the liquid collecting around her feet while she simultaneously did the ASL sign for potty with her clenched little fist.
I don't think any parent has ever been so proud as I was in that very moment to have their kid pee in the shower.
Tomorrow she will build rockets for NASA, perform brain surgery, and cure cancer.


1 comment:

Rebecca said...

she is amazing i'm thrilled she peed in the shower my son peed the first by himself outside on a tree. we too live in the country so thank goodness the only one offended was maybe Bambi but hey at least it wasn't in his pants. I still can't get over how big quilla has gotten she looks so adorable chasing those birds. Where does the time go.
give her a hug for me.