Look who’s talking.

Since Leah turned one on Friday (pictures are coming, I promise), she has taken off.

On Friday afternoon, my friend Nina and I were sitting and talking while Leah played nearby. All of a sudden we heard the music from her Busy Ball Popper, which meant that she had figured out how to turn it on all by herself. Since then, she has played with it constantly, clearly relishing the fact that she can do it herself.

When Scott got home Friday evening, Nina, Scott, and I all witnessed Leah’s first phrase of more than one word: “Hi, Dada!” She waved when she said it, and it nearly broke my heart. So sweet. If we had any doubts about whether or not that what actually what she said, those doubts were erased Saturday morning when she saw her daddy for the first time that day. We came around a corner, and she saw him, smiled, waved, and said it again: “Hi, Dada!”

Melt. my. heart.

Today, even though she wasn’t feeling quite top notch and was clearly still tired, she was in terrific spirits as she marched around the house talking to herself. Nothing new there, until she waved at us as she left the room and said, “Byebye.” She did this repeatedly. (Consistency has become the defining factor in our deciding whether or not she is really saying something. If she does it in context more than once or twice, we figure it was on purpose and really is what it sounds like.)

She also seems to know the word “bottle,” as twice this evening she pointed at one and said something that sounds just like it. (We hadn’t been doing bottles much at all anymore, except at bedtime, but when she wasn’t feeling well today that was just about all she would take. It figures that she would learn to say it now that we’re cutting back on them.)

Right before bedtime tonight, too, we were working with her on “blowing kisses,” and she did it a few times, too. When we told daddy good night, he got a kiss blown from across the room.

I’m also thinking she’s trying to say “kitty” and “baby,” though I haven’t been able to catch a consistent pattern in those yet.

All of a sudden, she’s learning so many new things! It’s so much fun to watch! I can’t even express how thrilled I am that we’re going to be having two-way interactions soon…even if that does bring on disagreements and tests of will (as it most certainly will).