Hello, My Honey! Hello, My Baby!

Over the last few weeks I've had several people comment that Bridget is very quiet. Her nursery leaders were surprised (skeptical) that she talks. She talks non-stop with me. It's like living with a sweet little foreign language teacher. She'll repeat the same word over and over again until I say it back to her correctly. Once I get the word right, she nods her head encouragingly. For example, this morning Bridget said what sounded like "cah-mo" about 20 times before I said the right word back to her ("Cosmo" - Josie's dog). My guesses included everything from "camal" to "camera." If we had been with Cosmo or seen a dog, my correct guess would have come much sooner, but he was just the beginning of a long list of people whose names Bridget knows. A list she likes to recite a few times a day. Of course she never calls these people by name when we're with them. She waits until we're in the car to wave goodbye to her grandparents and say, "Bye bye, Mama and Papa."

Not only does Bridget talk, but she likes to tease us. If an ill wind is in the air, I'll ask her if she's stinky. She gives me a smile and says, "Maggie poo poo?" Maggie is the dog. The dog in the backyard. No doubt Maggie is poo poo, but we can't smell it from in here. Who needs a sibling more than Bridget? (I've added our adoption profile to this blog after debating it in my head and with other people for several weeks. Being so far "out there" makes me nervous, but hopefully it will lead us to finding our next little treasure.)

Bridget's favorite place is outside. No particular place, just outside. Sometimes she'll take me by the hand ("hand?") and lead me to my closet ("Mommy shoes?" "Mommy jacket?"). If I fall for it and put my shoes and jacket on, she takes my hand and leads me to the door "outside?". She's even less subtle with Brian, she actually brings him his shoes. We've already had to start spelling the words "park" and "swing" when she's around.

You'll notice that just about everything she says sounds like a question. Probably because I am asking her questions all day. For example, she is in her high chair right now eating breakfast and then not eating breakfast. I asked her if she is all done eating and she shakes her head "no" and says, "I want it?" (That means, "I don't want it.") When I tried to get her out, she got upset and said, "NO!" She wants to continue sitting in the high chair messing with the buckle of her little restraint harness. Can't argue with a good time like that.

My favorite of Bridget's words are the ones that aren't questions. When she sees what she's going to be wearing for the day, she exclaims, "CUTE! I love it!" (She also says, "I like it?" but that's usually a question, too.) I put braids (Laura Ingalls style) in her hair the other day and she spent a good five minutes looking at them in the mirror with a big smile on her face. "I love it!"

Bridget doesn't talk in front of a camera either, but one day I will trick my little Michigan J. Frog and put the evidence on display. Then I'll make millions. MILLIONS!