Observation

Kate has a new sound, but it took me some time to figure out what it was. She’s coming down with another old (of course (number 4)). When she gets phlegm, she tries to swallow it down which makes a telltale noise in her mouth: smack, smack, smack. That’s what I thought I heard initially. It was disturbing because she’d been making it a lot. When I looked closer, I learned she was smacking her lips. Odd, but okay, at least it wasn’t phlegm sucking. I put it down to another new noise she was experimenting with.

It wasn’t until one of her many, many diaper changes that I discovered what she was really trying to do. I had her on the changing table as I stripped off the puffy diaper and strapped on a new. She had her foot in her mouth. Smack, smack, smack. A light bulb went off. She loves having her feet kissed when she’s on the table. She waves them around for us to see, giggling when we attack them and slobber them all over with kisses. Smack, smack, smack! You’re kidding me: she was making the kissing sound! :)

I had another revelation this weekend, too, which makes me see just how much she’s picking up on the world around her. Sadie and Muggles like attention. We haven’t been able to play with them as much since Kate’s arrival, but whenever they’re in our vicinity we try to oblige. We put our hands in their fur and give them a good scratch all over. They love it.

For weeks now, Kate’s been rubbing things with her fingers: the Boppy, books, toys, her bottle, the rug, her blankets, the carrier – everything. I put it down to her exploring new textures, and she probably was. This weekend, it dawned on me that the motion she makes when feeling the textures exactly mimics the one we make when scratching the girls. To a “T”. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don’t think so. What a precocious little girl.