update...continued...

Lily's speech abilities seemed to have increased significantly in the last month! She is such a great little communicator, she just rambles on in her own language--while she interacts with us, and even when she's talking on her play cell phone! The most incredible part is her vocal expression: Her tone gets higher & lighter at the end of a question, she pauses for responses during a conversation, and she raises her voice for added emphasis to her stories!

Lily has been humming along to music for a while, but she now also sings "Ding, ding, dong" during Are You Sleeping? And just last week, she called out "Mama, where are you?" as she searched for me after I left the room!

One of the most fascinating parts of this development stage is seeing all she's learned, just by observation. Lily brushes her own hair as well as others', she knows that make-up brushes are for the face, and she wants to dry her hair after baths, using the blowdryer, UNassisted!

Oddly, Lily does not like to have messy hands after meals; She does not like unabsorbed lotion on her hands; And she hates if one of my lost hairs gets stuck on her fingers. But she LOVES playing in the dirt outside or with spilled liquids inside, and she likes to collect rocks.

She's such a wonderful, unique little person!