October 22, 2004: What is... cute?

Where do I start. Unlike during the first 12 months things don't happen on a daily basis once you become a toddler. So, I don't have bigger news than that things are improving on all fronts: there is more and better walking, more teeth (#5 is coming in!), more expert stairclimbing and more talking. Now the talking is sort of different because Veronika hasn't really learned many new words. She still says: hallo, hi, mama, papa and oof oof for Digby. She also added "bah" which she uses for stuffed animals mostly but sometimes also for other stuff. Nevertheless, she is talking a mile a minute. She gestures a lot and changes her intonation and inflection, she will chat with you or command you, and she knows how, she just uses her own words - which are quite cute but incomprehensible. Suprisingly they include a lot of ch and combinations of sh and ch - which sounds, well, Polish. Or so Lincoln says. We don't know where she picked up Polish, but hey, good for her.

Unfortunately Veronika also prooves to be quite the flirt. She knows how to work it - with the smiles and the dimple-flashing, she lets her eyelashes down, then shyly lets her hand linger on her cheek or her neck, all the while smiling and smiling... it is fun to watch but also a little scary. She doesn't know it yet, but her future in a convent is cemented. We feel if she continues at this rate, it is the best way to protect her from harm - and protect us from trouble. (Oh, of course I'm not serious! She can stay home, our basement has plenty of room!)

Life with Veronika is a lot of fun these days. The cuteness reaches new highs every day and it's great to see her figure out things... like today, when we were reading a book and I pointed out the teddy bear and she immediatly got all excited and pointed at the big teddy bear sitting on the floor across from her. Or when she does "peek-a-boo", sticking her head out from behind the door and smiling that cheeky smile, or when she imitates my "meeoow" in a really really high voice. The best part is still the laughing, especially now when the top teeth with their huge gap are showing.

Gap in her teeth, dimples in her cheek... there has never been a betterlooking child!