Maturations

The Hatchling is now officially word-crazy, having added such words and phrases as "Go, Car, Go!" (a favorite book), "feet" (sounds like 'phweet!'), shoe, nose, Oma, down, outside, all done and cookie to her ever-burgeoning vocabulary. Two cute things about that: one, she's developed a pattern of asking what a thing is, and then once you tell her, she waves at it and says "hi." It goes like this:

Hatchling: 'Sat? 'sat? 'sat? (what's that?)
Squab: That's your baby-doll.
Hatchling (face lighting up): Hiiiiiiii, beee! ("Bee" is how she says "baby.")

Two, she's lately started calling Mr. Squab "D." She's perfectly capable of saying "Daddy" - it's one of her few two syllable words - but apparently she's now too hip and cool for that. So when Mr. Squab gets home, she's all, "Hiiiiiii, D! Hiiiiiii, D! Hiiiiiii, D!" Which is, you know. Pretty cute.

But. Proud as we are of her increasing linguistic abilities, she's recently manifested a skill that eclipses even speech in her father's eyes. To wit: yesterday, her cousin, E, was spending the day with her and my mom. E, like Mr. Squab, likey the video games, and usually when he comes over he spends a good chunk of time on the Wii or the PS3. In the afternoon he took a break for lunch or something and after a while he and Oma heard odd noises from the TV in the living room. The TV itself was off, but the Hatchling had gotten hold of the PS3 controller, turned on the game system, and - blind - started "playing" a race-car game that Mr. Squab recently downloaded. "When we turned the TV on, she was on level 4," reported E. "I haven't even hit level 4 yet!"

I admit that I'm not quite sure whether to be impressed or slightly horrified by this, but Mr. Squab has no such dilemma. "That's my girl," he responded when we came home last evening from ECFE and the Hatchling plopped herself down in her toddler-sized chair, demanded the controller, and turned on the PS3 again.

"That's my girl."