C'mon, Her Vocabulary is Waiting

Brigid’s vocabulary has been exploding and her delight in the change is evident. She truly enjoys saying new things and, when her temperament allows, will happily repeat words you suggest or tell you the word for whatever you point out if she knows it. She’ll even perform for others, so we’re thinking of going on the road and hiring her out to entertain at dinner parties and shopping malls. Yesterday she started saying, “C’mon, c’mon,” when she wanted me to follow her into the living room. “C’mon. Woody…” she said, indicating she wanted me to follow her into the living room and put the Toy Story video in. Shrek has taken a back seat, I’m afraid. Elmo is still a hit, and she intermittently asks for Elmo between requests for Buzsh (the way she says Buzz) and Woody. She’s got Margaret and Patricia down pat and calls out for them when the spirit moves her. Yesterday in the car, when I dropped Patricia off for tap class before running out to do a few quick errands with Brigid in the car, she started to cry a sad, sorrowful cry at Patricia’s leaving her. She loves her big sisters and wants to go to them over and over again.


She has really started to sing, and you can pick out words or sounds from songs that she’s come to know. She sings along with the ABC song, not pronouncing all the letters but certain ones she’ll say loud and clear, and she says the ending part pretty well, too. She’ll babble along with whatever she doesn’t know the words to, every now and then coming out with an emphasis word. The theme from Toy Story, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” is a particular favorite and she’ll babble along until you get to “in me,” which she says very plainly and, I have to add, very cutely. She’ll break into song in the car seat to no one in particular as she gazes out the window.


She’s also started pointing at things asking, “da?” as in, “What’s that?” and I’ll name it. She’ll point to all kinds of things looking for their names. Like Helen Keller when she finally understands W A T E R and then goes running from object to object for Annie Sullivan to spell for her, Brigid is enjoying the discovery that things have names. She never grows tired of pointing to (sticking her finger in) your eyes as she says, “Eye,” “nose,” “mouth” and so forth. She points to yours then to her own. Bellybutton is a new one and it’s very cute to see her find her own and then say it. Butterfly is a fairly new word for her and it comes out more like budabye. Many of her books have budabyes in them and she says it over and over – “budabye budabye budabye!”

Halloween is quickly approaching and I have yet to do the girls’ costumes. As much as I’d like to make Brigid an Elmo or Woody costume (Jessie, the ‘Odeling Cowgirl?) I’m going in a different direction. Patricia is very specific with what she wants; Margaret less so, but I’ll hold you all in suspense and post pictures from the actual event (assuming that as always I get them done at the last minute). We hope to go to Burlington this weekend so I can pick up some fabric now that we don’t have a JoAnn Fabrics anymore. I may have to stock up for their Christmas outfits, too, which will probably be made Dec. 23. I can dream, can’t I?