More words

Cole said another name on Sunday - Stella. This is the name of another baby in the infant room at Cole's day care. She's a few months younger than him, and she is by far the quietest baby there. She does have the clearest blue eyes and has a very sweet smile. It was very sweet to hear him say her name. It happened just after he woke up from a nap with Keith and I Sunday morning (or rather - this afternoon). (Thanks daylight savings for making us more sleep deprived than we already were!) Even after saying Stacia's name successfully, he's still been trying to make the "St" and "Sta" sound. So Keith and I are constantly coming up with variations: "Statistics" "state" "Start" "Stuff" the list goes on and on. So he woke up from his nap and said his version of "Stella" twice. (it sounded like "Steya") Of course, I had to check with Keith for confirmation, but he heard the same thing I did. So cute! It happened again when I was showing him Kiwi's tail while feeding him a mix of mangoes and bananas. Kiwi had taken the opportunity to sit on my lap, so I said, "See, this is her tail," holding it up for him to see. And he replied: "Tail" but without the "l". Then, later when I was singing "quack quack" along with a song about ducks that was on our Music Choice Toddler Tunez cable channel, he said "Duck." I think he learned that from his Baby Einstein exersaucer. It's surreal listening to him say actual words instead of just babble. It's like he's turning into this little person.  And this person is quite a talker!

His looks are also starting to change. He's starting to look more like a little boy (specifically- a little version of Keith) and less like a little baby. I think the change we're seeing is that his face is getting longer. Maybe this is all part of his grand entrance into toddlerhood (which I know is still some time away.) I'm not trying to rush it, by all means, but I am noticing it. Keith is too. In fact, he was standing in front of the television the other day and he turned around to look at us, and Keith turned to me and commented that Cole looked different right then. As much as possible I treasure the moments we have together, because I know how quickly it all goes. I look at myself for a perfect example. I'm almost 34 and I can still remember trying to keep pace with my father's long legs on the day of my seventh birthday. I was trying to convince him that I was a "big girl now." I can still hear the sweet laughter in his voice as he readily agreed that  "Yes, you're a big girl, now, Bianca."