as if overnight...

Anaïs staring out as the merry-go-round spins!!

In the past couple of days it seems as if Anaïs has transformed her communication to include real words. She has always been incredibly clear, and her complete understand of both Spanish & English (and some Polish) has been astounding (not just to me as her mama, although i do admit I am biased). However, while she was always happy to repeat a word as we read books, she never felt any need or shown much desire to incorporate words into her daily exchanges with us or the rest of the world. And suddenly, as if overnight, she has started to use words independently and coupled in pairs. The other night as we sat on the couch looking out the window she said: "Look mama, moon." My jaw nearly dropped and she was filled with glee at my surprise... so she proceeded to point and say: "Moon, on" (as if someone had turned on the moonlight in the sky). It was a precious moment as we gazed up at a crescent moon together and she cheerfully tried out more and more words... moving from a collection of barely recognizable syllables (that I am certain were mimicking words, but never with enough consistency to keep track) to playing with all sorts of sounds that actually resembled words in the English and Spanish language (and even a couple Polish words, as she asked me to sing our little lullaby by saying: "ah, Koki" - meaning 'kotki' translated into cats).

Isabel & Mavi going down the slide... happy to be together in the sunshine, celebrating Mavi's 3rd Birthday!!!

On the very same night, Isabel also managed to fill my heart with a smile as she hugged me endlessly before bed. Finally, in an attempt to lure her to curl up to sleep, I said: "You are giving me so many wonderful hugs, make sure you save some for Groovy & Sleepytime" (her current sleep companions). To which she casually replied, "It's okay mama, I won't run out... I make hugs in my sleep." I could not help but laugh, as she cuddled up with her 'babies' and drifted off to sleep.

It's been another wonderful start to our weekend... a lovely play-date with good friends on Friday morning, a baby shower for a good friend on Saturday (early afternoon) followed by a birthday party for one of Isabel & Anaïs's good friends Mavi, a fun breakfast with friends on Sunday morning at the Italian Club... all days filled with sunshine, so good for the soul!! And tomorrow we are looking forward to hosting a small wine & cheese with the embassy folks who are around to celebrate Thanksgiving. There is definitely no shortage of things to be grateful for... though right now, my thanks is quite simple: the girls are in bed and I have some time to get things ready for tomorrow... off to the kitchen I go!!!