Happy Holidays!

Are you there Grandma? It's me, Molly.

(This dress brought to you by Becky --who is adopting a little boy from the same care center where Molly lived). It's adorable Becky. I didn't think it would fit, but it was perfect.
This cell phone brought to you by the snowbank that swallowed my cell phone last winter and devoured it whole--lucky for Molly, I guess).

Opening Presents

So, I will save those of you who have stopped by the site from the horrendous tales that accompany a cold that develops into a bout of pneumonia which is immediately followed by a 2nd cold. I won't tell you about how much it must suck/stink to have a runny nose that makes it impossible to breathe let alone suck on the blanket that you have come to rely on while sleeping. I won't tell you how painful I imagine it must be to cut 4 molars and 1 regular tooth simultaneously--while dealing with a 104 degree temp, a runny nose, and nasty lung spliting cough at the same time. I won't bore you for hours on end with how absolutely exhausted the both of us are. And I won't tell you about the hurricane that must have hit my house while I wasn't looking.

What I will tell you is how eagerly Molly and I are looking forward to the new year.

This holiday season Molly has amused many by telling them about the tree that suddenly appeared in our living room. It begins with a question which she indicates by putting her hands up in offering. I can only assume this stands for "What's up with this tree in our livingroom". Then she does the baby sign for "tree" followed by the one for "lights". And finally she looks at the tree and blinks at it. She has always loved lights but apparently in a desperate need to explain the twinkling lights she decided to blink. It's very funny.

Although that conversation is mostly in sign, the girl has become very vocal lately. With her first cold (in November), sporting a 102 degree temp, she decided to get up and start walking. With this latest stretch of colds, which included temps in the 104s, she decided it was time to start talking. She spent Christmas Eve blurting out "slide" "slide" "slide" repeatedly and very loud. It's a strange word the way she says it and yet it is most certainly her word for slide. She also says "chair". Amazingly, the two (slide and chair) sound very similar. Out of context, I'd have a hard time distinguishing them, but in context they are so obviously different words. In general, she pretty much repeats any word I say (although some sound considerably more intelligible than others). Still, they contain many of the right sounds, the right number of syllables, and the right pitch and inflection. Childhood is amazing.

Happy Holidays!!