Cuties

How cute is this: when D is sitting and playing with whatever (Playmobils, her little Smurf figurines, my old Jem collection, her Shrek toys) she sometimes narrates what she's doing in song. She gets totally absorbed and starts to sing her plot, as in, "and now I'll visit the priii-nnncce, but first I gotta put on my beautiful drreeeessss...".

And how about this: A and I play this game where I stick both of my arms straight up into the air and then let them fall down into my lap with a loud exhalation. And he has started to imitate me by putting his arms up in the air and making a similar noise! He doesn't do it every time but when he does, it's clearly in response to me. I notice him doing another familiar hand gesture too, accompanied by a silly noise that I make when tickling him.

As for D's meaningful gestures, she really likes to sign "I love you" to us in sign language, ever since we learned how to do it from a book. When we're not looking at her, she thinks it's funny to call us and then play a little trick like this:
D "Mama?"
me "Yes?"
D "Mama?"
me "Yes?"
D "Mama?!"
me "What?" (finally looking over at her to see that she's signing Iloveyou) "Oooooh, me too!"
D (laughing) "What did you think when I was calling you?"
me (recounting what just happened)

Back to A: he is loving the bath these days! One time recently I walked into the bathroom with A in my arms and when he saw the water and bath toys in the bath he literally lunged toward it and made super excited grunting noises.

And finally: when D wants to describe something that is big, powerful or extreme, she opens her arms as wide as she can and then brings her hands together behind her back. So for instance, this evening she put her hands behind her back in order to show me just how difficult it was for her to fall asleep.