Lists

(1) New Skills
According to the cognitive science book I read last summer, a child's brain development occurs in sudden bursts, rather than gradually. Tom and I both feel like we've seen such a burst in Edith recently, especially when it comes to playing. New things she has learned to do in the last week include

• Hugging.
• Taking a baseball cap off Mama or Daddy's head and putting it on her own.
• Playing Peekaboo with Paul in Pat the Bunny. I was sitting there a few days ago when she turned to that page and so asked, "Where's Paul?...There he is!" as she lifted the flap. You could see the light dawn, as she made the connection that she could play this game in a book that she knew from real life. Now she finds that page of the book and does it repeatedly by herself.
• Bouncing a ball toward someone, as in a basketball bounce pass.
• Trapping the ball with her arms when the person rolls it back to her.
• Offering an object, smiling when you take it and say "thank you," reaching to have it back, and saying "thank you" in return. (Her version has two clear syllables with an inflection that matches the adult's, but the actual consonants and vowels are admittedly unclear!)
• Strumming her finger over her lips while intoning, to make a funny noise. Tom taught her this and she got it within seconds. Now she does it independently, trying to make people laugh.

She also took a few unassisted steps toward Bismarck on Saturday, although she hasn't repeated the feat since, so it's not really in the category of new skill mastered.

(2) Mandibular Exercises
Edith's jaw strength--or teething pain--also seems to have increased suddenly, judging by the things she has bitten through in the past few days:

• The plastic seal around a new container of veggie puffs.
• The cardboard box containing a new tube of toothpaste. (My little gerbil...)
• A foam bathtoy.
• Her mother.

(3) Cousins

We celebrated another first birthday in the Lank clan this past weekend. The occasion was remarkable for there having been a moment when all five cousins were in the same place, awake, dry, and reasonably happy long enough to have their picture taken together.

Left to right are sister Maggie with brother Santiago, Edith, and brother Matthew with sister Abigail.

The picture taken a moment later was perhaps more revealing of character: The two big sisters turned to rein in their little brothers (who, as far as I can tell, were doing nothing to merit discipline), while Edith sought to rile things up by picking on both her boy cousins at the same time.