Since last week, it seems my little boy’s second favourite thing to do is to smile. He’s even started laughing out loud. He’s never given me any trouble. He just eats, sleeps, poops, and laughs. Pretty much the perfect baby … except for being so heavy that some nights I can’t stand upright ’cause my back hurts so much from lugging him around all day. The last couple of days he’s been sleeping so much that I haven’t had to carry him at all.

Rinah has started singing along Handel’s Messiah in the car. It’s so cute. She also likes to dance to Dave Ramsey’s intro music when I’m listening to his podcasts while I cook.

Shakespeare hasn’t been a hit, though. She has started pointing at the TV and asking me to turn it on (“Tay-bee … on?) so I decided it was time for Henry V. She was terrified by the opening credits, cried when Derek Jacobi came on as the chorus, ran away from the tennis ball scene, and cried again when she saw Falstaff, so maybe she’s not quite ready for Henry V. I think I’ll try getting Hamlet or Much Ado About Nothing.

Over the past couple weeks, her verbals skills have been growing by leaps and bounds. She speaks in sentences sometimes. They all start with “I want” or “I don’t want” or “I don’t like” … LOL. And they’re always exclamatory. She’s really excited about communicating.

- I wan moosit! (I want music.)
- I wan det desst! (I want to get dressed.)
- I wan weed a boot! (I want to read a book.)
- I don wan dis!
- I don wike dis!

Another thing she likes to say sometimes … I have no idea where she picked it up but she’s been saying it for months now.

- NO WAY!

Sometimes it’s not a full sentence but she strings a bunch of words together. I’ve noticed she always seems to use Latin word order: noun, adjective, verb.

- Hans! Dah-ee! Wash!
- Hi-cha! Sit!
- Dah-ee woot! (Daddy work.)
- Ball. Boo. Dop. (Ball blue drop. I dropped the blue ball.)

Sometimes it’s totally wrong. When Ben or I ask her, “Do you want me to hold you?” She answers, “Hoh-joo.” And when she asks to be held, she says “Wan hoh joo.”

And this morning, she was dancing around singing, “Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Knife. Habbit. Habbit.” She wanted me to cut a peach with a knife and give it to her. LOL.

She is still in love with her brother. She is the first to respond to him when he wakes up or cries. If I’m on the computer, or doing laundry, cooking, I usually think he can wait a couple minutes while I finish up whatever I’m doing but she won’t let me. She pulls on my hands or pants saying, “Baby! Ty! Noose!” (Baby! Cry! Nurse!) until I go pick him up and nurse him. She gets angry at me if I make him cry by cleaning his nose and tries to pull me away from him yelling, “No, nooooo. Baby tyyy.”

PEOPLE
- Dah-ee (Daddy)
- Mama
- Eesa (Lisa)
- Indy
- Jessa (Jessica)
- Tami (Cami)
- Sheh-bee (Shelby)
- Wices (Rices)
- Taite

FASHION (She picks her own clothes to wear now.)
- eye-shah-oh (eye shadow)
- may-tut (makeup)
- bay-set (bracelet)
- net-ess (necklace)
- ee-ing (earring)
- watch
- dasses (glasses)
- hat
- pai-dah (diaper)
- pee-foht (pre-fold)
- pants
- shoyt (shirt)
- shoes
- san-ahs (sandals)
- toot (cute)
- mee-ya (mirror)
- fit (It fits!)

FOOD/EATING
- chits (chips)
- toffee (coffee … I don’t give her any)
- wice (rice)
- hundy (hungry)
- moy (more)
- bitch (peach)
- ba-ah (banana)
- pee-oh (peel)
- pee-bah (peanut butter)
- teeya (tortilla)
- no-ee (nori, Japanese for “dried seaweed”)
- bet (bread)
- tay-bo (table)
- hi-cha (high chair)
- wa-tee (water)
- new-ohs (noodles)
- ma-oosh (marshmallow)
- tee-ya (tortilla)
- pizza (tortilla or pizza)
- toh-tee (turkey)
- beef
- titten (chicken)
- ice
- tup (cup)
- poon (spoon)
- fot (fork)

COLOURS
- wet (red)
- boo (blue)
- dee (green)
- weh-oh (yellow)
- popo (purple)
- oh-ej (orange)

STUDY/TOYS
- ah-fet (alphabet)
- ball
- bots (blocks)
- dutty (ducky)
- toys
- boot (book)
- weed (read)
- moo-sit (music)
- wee-so (weasel)

MACHINES/DEVICES
- fee-tah (refrigerator)
- tay-bee (TV)
- tam-ah (camera)
- sell-fo (cell phone)
- doo toos heh set (blue tooth head set)
- baddy (battery)
- i-top (iPod)
- tee-bot (keyboard)
- mouse

MISCELLANEOUS
- ma-yoh (mail)
- heh-bee (heavy)
- I fyoo (I love you.)
- hudge (hug)
- seeping (sleeping)
- ty (cry)
- woot (work)
- I so sah-ee (I’m so sorry)
- tay-too (thank you)
- tats (thanks)
- dopt (dropped)
- tah
- tah-see (car seat)
- fat
- dose (gross)
- boo-jee (booger)
- dayn-us (dangerous)
- pen-sit (expensive)
- joo juh (good girl)
- pah-ee (potty)
- wipe
- dah-ee (dirty)
- wash
- bush tees (brush teeth)
- mouf (mouth)
- fin-dahs (fingers)
- face
- tee-ee (sticky)
- ah-dah (all done)
- I nee heh-oop (I need help.)
- fah-dah (fall down)
- habbit (have it; trans. “Give it to me.”)
- hoht (hurt)
- wet
- poop
- poo poo
- pee pee

I know there’s more because I hear her say things and think “I need to add it to the list” but I can’t remember them right now.