Jess' daughter

Not to imply that I can't use a computer or that Adam can't read, but I caught Brie mimicing me today, really and truly. I was sitting and reading while Brie was playing beside me. She tried one thing after another, and then settled down with one of the board books I read her almost every day, "Moo, Baa, La, La, La" (this is a great book, I remember reading it to Rachel). And I watched, fascinated and my own book forgotten, as Brie studiously turned pages (very properly and dexterously), while intoning seriously, "Da, da, da, da, da. Da. Da, da. Da, da, da." And so on. She was reading! It was very purposeful babble, with a regular cadence, just like when I read to her! Wow, it was so cool. Be still my beating heart, my daughter's a bookworm.

It's just amazing to watch her intelligence kick in, to watch her study us, and then do what we do - even completely unprovoked, like today! I wasn't prompting her or anything. She just saw a book, and knew what you do with books.

She also knows what to do with a recorder. She's figured out how to blow and make it toot, and it's now one of her top five favorite toys. (The best toys currently are: whatever Mom or Dad has. She picked up the recorder after watching me play it while I was trying to figure out the tunes to some hymns. I tell you, it's hard to get anything done around here when Brie wants Mom's spoon, Mom's book, Mom's water bottle . . . sigh.) So she toots, and I whistle back at her, and we're both quite pleased with ourselves.


She's also got a new expression, which she uses when she thinks somethings especially funny. She wrinkles up her nose and gives a few ladylike giggle-sniffs. Like, "Mom, that's so funny! I can't believe you just did that!"


And, back to Adam, he is currently the King of Getting Brigid to Sleep. At bedtime, I hand her over, and he takes her and does some quiet tummy-time on our bed, which I hear involves double-binkying and push-ups. You'll have to get him to explain it. But then he brings me back a sleeping girl, who I feed (yes, she eats while deep in dreamland), and then hand back to him to put her in her crib. I'm always amazed when he disappears into the back room with a live one, and comes back with this darling, cozy, almost-snoring thing. He's such a good dad.