Well, our little Julia has been growing in leaps and bounds since Christmas. Literally. She can almost jump with both feet at the same time, and is bound and determined to have that skill mastered as soon as possible. Look out future baby sitters! Her teeth are still causing her pain, but two of the four eye teeth are most of the way in. We have survived her first bought of nighttime upset stomach. You know, the kind where you have to bathe your child at 2am, change all the bedding, and then hope to get some sleep before work the next morning. Her new favourite phrase is “where” or “go” to ask where someone or something went. She has regained her appetite and is currently eating us out of house and home! Once again, babysitters beware! She talks all of the time, we understand her some of the time, and often wish for a toddler-English dictionary to decode what she says. Who would have thought that in her mind “mommy” means “please” or “right now!” and “Ma” means “Mom”? Hopefully she will soon learn “please” to complement her already semi-proficient “thank-you.” Yes, we are the manner’s police.

Well,it finally happened… Julia now uses the word “no,” often. Just yesterday she said it to me for the first time, and then proceeded to all day. Mostly to do with getting dressed, as she is in the “I’d rather just be in a diaper phase”. Thankfully she is not shouting it out, she just replies “no” and then continues on with her business. Hopefully, someday, her and my business will be the same and then she will shout “yes!”. Julia is also using the word “up” more frequently and appropriately now. She has been using it for months (literally, it was her first word) in relation to her toys, but never for herself, as she preferred to groan or whine to indicate that she needed up. However, these past few days she has been saying “up” when she needs an increase in elevation, and thus, there has been less whining in our house!

Ba ba ba ba ba… That is the language of our little one these days. Julia has discovered that she can make the sound “ba” and now happily makes it throughout the day. Both Derek and I talk back to Julia in her newfound language, we just hope that we are not agreeing to something crazy!