New Skills

Actually, some of her newfound skills disappeared during the weeklong sickness (she's not walking as confidently as she was, for example), but here are some of the new things Fiona has learned to do in recent weeks:

• When we read the book "What Do Babies Say?", Fiona can tell you that a hungry baby says "Ba-ba", a busy baby says "Uh-oh" and a tired baby says "Night-night". She was on the verge of announcing that a sad baby says "Boo-hoo" when the lost week hit.
  
  Coolest of all, Fiona was able to answer most of those questions without aid of a book. There she'd be, cruising along, grabbing subscription cards out of magazines, and one of us would ask "Fiona, what does a hungry baby say?" and without looking up she'd reply "Ba-ba".
  
  Interestingly enough, she can still do this with the "Night night" question; unfortunately, she's also started answering "night night" to most of the other questions. Obviously what we have on our hands is a baby who understands sounds without meaning, unless she really thinks that a hungry or cuddly baby really wants to go night night. Her own behavior belies that possibility.
  
  
• When reading the book "Toes, Ears and Nose", Fiona started grabbing her ear when we asked her where her ear was. This trick disappeared entirely during the sickness, but she is starting to identify body parts.
  
  
• When asked what a cat says, Fiona replies "meow". She'll also meow when she sees Buddy. And sometimes when she sees a picture of a dog or duck or butterfly or for no reason whatsoever. But there does seem to be a primary association with our feline friends.
  
  
• When the phone rings or we make a call, Fiona puts her hand to her ear. She also says something that sounds a bit like "hello" when she talks into her toy cell phone (which she holds up to her ear with no regard for where the mouthpiece might be).
  
  
• Fiona has started trying to sing. This is post-illness, so it's a skill (or at least an interest) that's really coming in. On Thursday, Andrea sang Old McDonald to her and Fiona enjoyed piping in with "E-I-E-I-O". She varies the tones, so she's beginning to recognize some of the differences between song and speech.
  
  And, because we're ironic Gen-X parents, we've made a habit of singing those famous few C&C Music Factory bars featuring the phrase "Everybody Dance Now" when we reach the page about it being party time for the little bears in Fiona's book "Teddy Bear". Fiona likes to bounce along and try to join us in singing. Yep, her first song is going to be "Gonna Make You Sweat"; we couldn't be more proud.