um...(jibber jabber)

Gibby jabs nonstop. As in, jibber jabber. Her nickname, given to her by one of the kids at daycare (Bridget morphed to Gibert, which became Gibby—both pronounced with a soft g like a j), seems fitting.

Lately, Bridget holds long, serious, one-on-one conversations with Al and me. She'll either be sitting on our laps or laying on us, stomach to stomach, with her face right in ours and those big hazel eyes open wide. Every conversation—well, every sentence, actually—begins with "Um..." Then she launches into whatever it is she's trying to say. I use the word sentence loosely here—her jibber is about as long as a sentence, after which she'll pause and look at us waiting for us to reply. And sometimes she's definitely not satisfied with our reply, like it doesn't seem to fit and she's onto us—onto the fact that we can't understand a word she's saying. Because in her mind, it's obvious that she's actually saying something. Something that we should understand. Those sentences come out sounding awfully alike each time she starts a conversation; it's just that she's not speaking English. American English, standard English, none of the above. But she'll continue trying, looking at us each time for a response, and so I try to alternate between things like "What?" "Really?" "Wow." "Uh-huh." "No." "Yeah?" and "Bridget, I can't understand a word you're saying."

The funny thing is that I feel so bad—guilty, almost—that I can't understand her. Maybe this stems from the fact that I do understand a lot more of her words than other people do. Unlike her cousin, Lily, Bridget's not big in the enunciation department so words like "outside" come out like "ah-iye." But she's said them often enough within context—say, when Mya's going outside, or she goes to the door to look at Mya outside and points at her and says it—that I know the word she's trying to pronounce. And it's unfortunate that she's not too good at the "sssss" sound yet, because some words come out sounding, well, not that great (as in What are you teaching your daughter? as I'm sure some people think when sock comes out sounding like cock and it's not obvious what she's talking about since she alternates between calling her slippers socks and sjhoooozzz). But I'm confident that in a few months I'll be able to understand her better and so will others—I hope. (There's a kid at her daycare that's two-something and I still can't understand him very well.) And since I talk more (in general) than her daddy, I'm hoping she picks up on my good grammar, too! (Let's just say as an English teacher, listening to some phrases that come out of Al's mouth or listening to him tell a story only using vague pronouns instead of differentiating between characters drives me crazy.) Until then, I'll just stare into those big eyes and love listening to the sound of her voice.

ready, jump!

Late last week, Bridget started jumping. At least, she thinks she's jumping. And it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen (apart from the way she says, "Wow!" or "Whoa!" when she sees something that amazes or surprises her).

On Friday or Saturday night, I noticed that Bridget would step up onto our fireplace landing, step to the edge, swing her arms back, and step off. I noticed that she was doing this because she'd then look at me, clap, and say, "Yay!" expecting me to do the same. The way she was swinging her arms back and bending her knees made it pretty obvious what she was trying to do: jump, probably just like the big kids at daycare do. It became a game. She'd step up onto the bricks and walk to the edge, I'd say, "Ready? Jump!" and she'd swing her arms back, bend her knees, and step off and look at me like she'd accomplished something so big, so grand, I couldn't help but be amazed and cheer. She's so pleased with herself that she's kept it up every night since (and apparently did it without the arm-swinging the day before I saw it) and has Al and me cheering up a storm. Yay, Bridget!

water water water...

If there's one thing Bridget would prefer to do over all others, it would be to play in the water. This girl loves getting wet!

Okay, technically, it's not the getting wet part that Bridget loves, although she doesn't seem to mind it (unless the water gets near her eyes, and she's pretty calm about that now, too—but it's clear she still doesn't like it). The part that Bridget loves the most is watching the water flow. Her favorite water-time play activity (and even bath-time activity) is to use a cup or a bowl (any type of container will do), scoop up the water, and pour it back out. If she can't scoop it but it's running (from a tap or a fountain, for instance), she'll put her hands under it and watch the water flow through her fingers. Both Al and I have gotten pool passes this year (our association has a pool), and even though Bridget's only been there a total of three times, she now cries and fusses if we take a walk and pass the pool without going in it (and this is from the other side of the parking lot, a couple hundred feet away). We'll take her in and walk around with her, and she'll play with her cups, kick her feet, float around a little, giggle if we spin her in circles—I've got a little water bug on my hands. Too bad her skin is as fair as mine—the girl's spending the summer doused in sunscreen!

The great thing about all of this outdoor fun? When Bridget's playing in the water, she's active—actually, she's almost always active, come to think of it. But water is fun for her, passes the time peacefully for mommy, and wears her out. She gets her exercise in and then gets a good, long rest afterward. I'm taking Bridget to a local waterpark Saturday and can't wait to watch her have fun—and I'm excited about taking her to Lake Michigan later this summer, too. Good times ahead!

what a big girl

Every day lately, I look at Bridget and can't believe how much she's grown. And growing up. Bridget really is beyond baby stage, but sometimes I don't want to believe it.

Bridget's over 30 pounds and about 33 inches tall—at least, she was a month ago when she went in for her fifteen month appointment. I'm betting she's taller (and weighs more) now, because suddenly the 24 month/2T clothing I was getting away with are too short/tight and I'm forced to contemplate whether I can get away with what we've got for the rest of the summer (or go shopping for 3Ts, only to turn around and need to buy fall clothing). She's in size 6 diapers and when she protests while I'm changing her diaper ("No, no, no, no, no" accompanied by kicking and wiggling) I tell her that she'll need to learn to use the toilet soon (size 6 = largest size). All four of her molars popped through her gums last Saturday (July 3) and her size 5 shoes are getting snug (one pair no longer fits). And on top of all that, she's acting older every day.

Of course, her arsenal of words is growing by leaps and bounds. "Get down," "all done," and "all gone" are all uttered several times a day, and she asks to go in the car or go outside. (I'm sure there's more in there that makes sense, but it isn't easily understood—she doesn't enunciate clearly like cousin Lily does!) And she's started doing things like clasping both hands over her mouth and muttering or squealing in fake surprise or amazement (that is CUTE!). She carries on complete "conversations" now on the phone, having expanded from holding it up to her ear and saying, "Hello? Hi!" to "Hello? Hi! Uh huh" and giggling, then saying, "Bye-bye, dada" (it's always bye-bye dada, because I call Al, put it on speakerphone, and then tell her to say goodbye to daddy). She makes faces at Beth, changing her expression when Beth changes her own (often imitating her expression). And she's very studious in many of her actions: she will spend hours playing with water, but needs one or two cups to scoop up the water and then pour it out (or into); she will spend equal amounts of time gathering her blocks and putting them in various containers, only to take them out again, or playing with my wallet, sunglasses, phone, and keys and taking them off the table, into her lap, and putting them back again. She loves to put my sunglasses on (even more than her own) and definitely knows what she wants. She can feed herself with a spoon or fork (but it's a little harder to get food to stay on a spoon!). She's climbing a lot, and I'm convinced that I'll find her outside of her crib someday soon (she was studying how a little boy did it on one of her/our favorite shows, America's Funniest Home Videos, yesterday evening). She cheers when it's appropriate, throws her arms up in the air and yells "ta da!" and will probably be sorely disappointed when she grows up and realizes she won't have a cheering section for every small accomplishment she makes (her cheering section often includes strangers still, who indulge her and tell her/me how cute she is). She's at the fun, fun, fun stage, and I'm loving every minute of it.