What Calliope's Been Up To

Talking talking talking.

Her speech is changing weekly. She's almost, but not quite, speaking in completely full sentences. Direct object pronouns have entered the scene.

So now she says things like, "I don't see it, Mommy."

It's the strangest thing, language acquisition.

Yet every night when I come home and she says something, I'm surprised by how babyish her little voice sounds, despite that relatively grown up grammar.

She heard beeping out our window and said, "Truck backing up! I hear it!"

She's very, very interested in all vehicles. Particularly rescue vehicles. Seeing a fire engine with sirens blaring makes her whole morning. Luckily we live on a busy street in a very large city so odds are good that if we are out, we will see a rescue vehicle of some sort. She also loves "hele-tockers" (helicopters).

The other night I woke up at to hear her calling, loudly, "More water 'peez' Mommy! More water 'peez'!" over and over again. We've been working on manners, saying please and thank you, for a while now... but I didn't expect her to be so polite at 3 am.

Another form of etiquette we've been working on is taking turns. This was really hard for her at first, but she and Eleanor have gotten pretty great at it, actually. One of the things that delights me about their relationship is that when Calliope rushes to get her turn being tossed in the air by Eleanor's daddy, Eleanor watches and giggles, a huge grin on her face, just as amused at the sight of Calliope flying through the air as when it was her turn. And then when it's Eleanor's turn again, Calliope squeals with delight at the sight of her pal having so much fun.

I continue to be amazed by their relationship. The girls have been together eight hours a day (Calliope has almost two hours alone with the nanny each morning before Eleanor arrives) since they were three months old. Obviously I've never had twins, but I think there are a lot of similarities. Calliope looks for Eleanor each and every day. Even on weekends, she is eager to visit her pal. If she gets to do something special at home, she asks anxiously, "Ellie's turn?"

They like to sit on the Stokke booster seat together. When they had ice cream as a special treat last Friday, Calliope carefully fed the last drops in her bowl to Eleanor.

I've been thinking a little bit lately about moving to Boston, to be closer to family, and the thought of separating these two girls breaks my heart. Which seems so silly. Of course they'd be fine. But their bond is so special. I want to preserve it, just for its beauty to my own eyes.

In other developments, she just figured out how to stack differently shaped boxes to make a tower. Seems like a small thing, but it has taken her many months to figure it out.

Her climbing skills still garner her some strange looks at the playground. And I watch as she executes perfect somersaults in her crib at naptime. Thank goodness she does, eventually, go to sleep.

She's totally recovered from all her illnesses, but doesn't seem to have fully regained her lusty appetite from before she was sick. But she's certainly eating enough, across the average day, that I'm not worried. But I'm hoping to work on expanding her repertoire once again. I was so proud of her progress... now it's time to try again. Tonight I made one of her favorites, "tato pies." (That's "sweet potato fries" to the uninitiated. She adores them. Even for breakfast.)

She has learned one day of the week, Friday. Because she looks forward to our new tradition, Shabbat celebration, on Fridays. Last week she asked, "Pink ice cream on 'Fyday'?"

I have no idea where she got this idea from. But I readily agreed. So now I think 'Fyday' will be known for lighting candles, drinking juice, eating challah... and eating ice cream.

I hadn't celebrated Shabbat in my home since I was a child, but since Calliope has learned the rituals and loves them, it is becoming a part of my life again. It's funny how things go full circle that way.