Update on Belalu

I don't have anything big to share, but since this blog started because of her, I wanted to bring it around back to Belalu for a minute. She is now 16 1/2 months old. In the past week she has started nodding her head "yes" and shaking her head "no," and generally they appear to coincide with her actual feelings, so I am able to have these very clear, simple conversations with her. "Are you hungry, Belalu?" ...(nods her head)... "Do you want some cereal?"... (shakes her head and points to the fruit bowl: "dat") "Oh, you want a banana?" (nods her head "nana").

Just this little thing is so huge to me. It makes her seem even more like a person than before, when she was a baby. We are having conversations. Actual conversations where meaning is being exchanged, as opposed to those conversations where she will babble something and I mimic her babble back and people give me strange looks because I sound ridiculous. She makes it very easy to understand what she wants; her communication skills amaze me. We have another hearing test on Thursday, and I will be shocked if they tell us that she cannot hear well; she doesn't seem to miss a thing.

My sister asked me today if Belalu gets comments from people about her size. She had taken the kids to the library the other day and there were two girls around her age- one was also 16 months and the other was a bit older. The moms had asked my sis how old Belalu was, but she said it was in the context of how much she was doing and how strong she was. Neither of the other girls could pull out a chair from a kiddie table and climb into it on their own. She said neither mother seemed interested in a competitive way, they just seemed curious. There was a comment about her being a "little peanut," but it was again in reference to her strength and dexterity.

So, I thought about my sis's question and told her that yes, people often comment about her size, but almost always they just seemed amazed by her. And that's a feeling I share. Maybe I am being naive, but when people marvel at her, it seems to me that it's not just because Belalu is small or "looks like a little doll." They are also responding to that amazing ability to communicate- the eye contact, the "hi"s and "bye-bye"s and little waves she gives as she continues on with her explorations, that amazingly winning smile; her dogged determination to go where she wants to, whether it's into somewhere she shouldn't or up on top of a chair or table to reach something mama thought she put out of reach; her habit of patting her belly and squealing with joy; her pointing at something interesting and exclaiming "uh-oh!"... this girl gets attention everywhere she goes, and why shouldn't she? She is amazing.