A very brief progress report

Just so you know, I do in fact remember that I have a second daughter. It seems like my blog is always off balance. One month I scroll through and see nothing but pictures of Molly, blond curls billowing in the breeze, and the next Frankie does something fantastic like go and turn four and I have to wax on and on about her.

But Molly Jo is still in the land of the living, her curls are still puffy and she is still menacing the neighborhood by snatching toy trains of Frankie's painstakingly built tracks and running as fast as her little legs can carry her in the opposite direction.

In the last week or so, she has suddenly started talking a LOT. She went from being totally unwilling to try any words to trying her hand at anything, with a false sense of her own skill, and failing rather spectacularly. But at least she now uses the same incomprehensible sound consistently for the same object, like "peh" for pillow or "blehbleh" for sucker. In all fairness, she can say a few things clearly, like "apple" and "bubble." But the majority are only recognizable in context and barely at that. Still, I couldn't be more ecstatic that she is trying to talk. My favorite word she has is a very enthusiastically rendered "YEAH!" that she says instead of "yes." Do you have poop in your diaper? YEAH!! Do you really really stink? YEAH!!! Are you super soiled and disgusting right now? YEAH!!!!!!

I wish I could say it is because speech therapy has been working its magic, but she's only had two sessions and, quite frankly, I couldn't tell you the difference between speech therapy and normal parent/child interaction, but perhaps the bar of parenting is set lower than I ever imagined. I mean, who doesn't look at collections of farm animals and make noises for their kid? I probably don't want to know the answer to that.

Another favorite vocabulary addition is "NAY!!! NAY!!!," which means "naked." As in, "I want to get naked and run around the house like a crazy woman and pee on the potty if I am so inclined, and if not, I will try to keep it confined to the hardwood." And if she does it, you know who is going to be joining in. Yup, me. No, actually, Frankie. The neighbors probably get quite an eyeful of nude toddlers running to and fro about the house and lounging on the furniture and think "Remind me to decline any future invitations that might require us sitting on their kitchen stools."