Five things you might not know about Reilly

The milestones are coming so quickly now with Reilly. We've realized that our daughter needs to be challenged constantly to keep from getting bored, and with each obstacle we put in front of her, she constantly exceeds our expectations. Reilly's confidence in herself is intoxicating.

She turns a year-and-a-half in three days.

1) Santa gave Reilly five puzzles for Christmas, everything from dinosaurs to colors and shapes in Spanish. Each puzzle has six pieces to it, and after only two weeks, she can do each puzzle in less than a minute.

2) As I mentioned in a previous post, Grandpa Craig built a playset/treehouse in the backyard. One of the ways to access the treehouse is by a six-foot rock wall. Reilly now climbs the rockwall on her own (with dad nervously spotting her, of course).

3) Over the holiday break, Reilly was enthralled with Santa. When we walked through the mall one day, she was shouting "antah!" constantly, since nearly every shop had some sort of stuffed Santa greeting the shoppers. At first, she also called the snowmen "antah!" and though we tried to get her to call them "Frosty" she didn't buy it. Reilly eventually settled on calling snowmen "Elmo." I guess "Frosty" was just too hard to say.

4) The level of communication between Reilly and the rest of the world has gained by leaps and bounds. Reilly truly understands what we are saying to her now, and accepts most commands with a quick response. For example, this morning Shawn asked Reilly to wipe her face with her bib, and Reilly did so instantly. More examples:

When Reilly wants to go outside, she says, "Outside!"
When Reilly has a poopy diaper, she says, "Poo-poo?"
When she wants Leia to come over to her, she says, "Ay-ah!" and pats her lap with her hands.
When Reilly is hungry, she walks over to her highchair and says, "Eat?"
Yesterday we were listening to one of her favorite Raffi songs in the car. When the song ended, Reilly yelled, "Daddy? More?"

5) Reilly likes to wash herself in the tub now. She points to the soap and gives me the sign for "more." I put some soap in her hands, she rubs her hands together, and then applies it to her body. She even washes her own hair. This ability to take care of her own hygiene seems so grownup--so child-like.

Whatever happened to my baby girl?