Bark Like a Dog: Ooo, Baby, Baby

Hello to all my family and friends! I'm a bit behind on blogging because I've been so busy swimming at the Y, helping Daddy outside with the yard and with barbecuing, eating poo (a sad incident I won't recount except to say that my parents learned a valuable lesson about changing my diaper the second they're aware that I've filled it), screaming my way to getting what I want, resisting sleep, and SAYING MY NEW WORD, which sounds like this:

Bayyyyyyy [long pause here] BEE!

Yes, I've officially acquired the word "baby." Nonna told everyone last week that I said "baby" to her, but as there was no corroboration, certain parental figures were somewhat skeptical. Then Saturday afternoon, I was playing in my corral in the living room and Mommy asked me where the baby was; she was talking about my Cabbage Patch buddy (on which I was standing so I could clear the top of the corral), but I turned and pointed to the picture of me on the picture ledge, and then I said it, clear as a bell. She was so excited she carried me all over the house to look at every picture of me and/or my young cousins and friends, and each time I pointed at the picture and said "baby" again. Before I went to bed that night, I was playing on the love seat with my parents and I leaned over the back and pointed to the picture of me in my Cavs gear and said it again for my daddy's benefit, since he missed all the excitement earlier.

Now that I've learned it, I can't stop saying it. Since my parents obviously think it's fantastic when I say it, I've been trying out applying it to other things I like; I mean, if "baby" is so good, it must apply to good things generally, right? So when my Mommy's holding me and I pat her head, I say "baby," and when I get a bagel chip (oh, cinnamon raisin bagel chips, how I love you!), I say "baby." Please bear with me while I sort out the specific usage. And in the mean time, if I should call you "baby," please think of it as a great endearment and not as disrespectful, sexist, or otherwise demeaning.

In other developmental news, I am a cruising machine, and when my hands are held for walking, I practically dance, it's so exciting. I'm also in the habit of giving fives (both the low and the high kind) now and of reading myself to sleep at night (after I've stopped screaming to be picked back up from my crib).

*****

I had a good visit with Cousin Bella at Grandma T's house. Aunt Barb and Cousin Lili were there, too, but Lili is too little to play ball with me like Bella does, so Daddy had a little cuddle with Lili while the rest of us had fun. Later, we went to Angelo's for pizza with Grandma T and then for a strawberry cone at East Coast Custard - mmmmmmmm!!!