March 06, 2005: Giant Steps

All it takes is a few days away from Veronika to realize how much she's changed. This last month has been a big one for her. She has shed every hint of babyhood for full-fledged toddlerdom. She's so engaged in all the activity around her now, not just passively watching or ignoring it altogether like before. She's repeating all of our words, sounds and actions and is always seeking out new things to learn or inventing her own when that fails. She knows several words in both German and English and can produce the sounds for all of the animals in all of her books. In fact there are not many moments between waking up and bedtime that she's not making some noise or saying something. She plays elaborate games with her dolls and toys (most of which involve shopping, bedtime or eating) and is even starting to enjoy coloring. As of this week, she's no longer afraid of snow either. She made a snowman with Mama on Friday and went sledding for the first time with me on Saturday (pictures to come, don't worry).

She had a great time with Deda and Baka on their visit and hasn't stopped talking about it since they left. She remembered them immediately and even learned to say both of their names right away. She loved having more people at her disposal for playing and everything else. She was quite upset when they left and now whenever we go somewhere we had gone with them, she calls out "Baka...Deda..." We have to explain that they're in Austria missing her but I'm not sure she gets it yet.

And her Great Grandpa would be happy to know that this kid loves pickles. I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when she insisted on having one at dinner. I gave her a piece, imagining the sour face that would ensue, but to my surprise she gave me an enthusiastic "Mmm!" Yesterday she ate two baby kosher dills with her grilled salami and cheese sandwich at lunch and would've eaten more if it hadn't been naptime. I guess she does take after me a little bit.

But the most important development (to me, anyway) is that last week she finally learned how to say "Papa!" For the past couple of months, I have been "Mama" (just like the real Mama) but now I'm finally my own entity. And now that she's learned to say it, she says it all the time, which is just fine by me. There are not many things in this world better than hearing your daughter call you Papa and running to hug your legs or jump into your arms. It makes everything right.