As one of the neighbor kids said, “Caitlyn talks a lot.” “liddy” (for little) “apricoter” (for helicopter) “wa-koff” (for washcloth) “cee-ning” (for ceiling) “bono-ateet” (for bon appetit) “mines” (logical, since “yours” ends in an “s”) She’s also discovered the first person pronoun, although she’s not terribly consistent with it. “I’m ready to be awake,” is just as common as “Caitlyn get a book.” And we have begun trying to differentiate between “want” and “need”: “Need more Mama cereal.” “You don’t need it, you want it.” “I want more Mama cereal.” “How do you ask?” “More Mama cereal, peas.”

Caitlyn sings her version of “Rock-a-bye Baby”: “Rocka my baby Inna treetop. Whena wind blows The baby will FAAAALLLLL!” (The last line is accompanied by hurling whatever stuffed animal is handy at the floor. )

Caitlyn’s favorite things: going outside doggies and elephants (pronounced “elFant!”) noodles tractors stories rocks, especially shiny rocks swinging (“More finging! More finging!”) water

A conversation: Ian: Looks like Mama’s making yummy stir fry. Caitlyn: Stir fry? Ian: (pointing at wok) Stir fry. (pointing at Caitlyn) Small fry. Caitlyn: (pause, then pointing at Ian) Big fry.

I dreamt aliens came to Earth and needed humans to return with them. They anticipated no problem finding volunteers as they were offering excellent child care and complete health benefits… Caitlyn has, without my really noticing it (bad Mama! bad Mama!), started speaking in sentences. “Look at me!” “Don’t touch, just look at it.” “Go see more amin-als!” “I’m tired. Time for stories.” “I’m cold.” “Mama’s name is Christina. Papa’s name is Papa. ‘Kit-tin’s’ name is ‘Cait-Lyn’.” Her sentences frequently wander off in the middle, sometimes hitting a skip like an old record, leaving her repeating something over and over …

This morning, Caitlyn paused in her attempts to “play” with Wasabi to stand in front of the oven and study her reflection in the oven door. She placed her feet wide apart and started doing baby lunges side to side, sometimes looking vaguely like she was also trying to do sideways bends. “Exercising,” she said to her reflection. “Exercising.” I have no idea where she learned this. Certainly not from me, as focussed exercising appears to be out of the range of possibility for me these days. I’ve tried doing yoga with Caitlyn in the room with me; she thinks …