was so richly documented, whereas her own was marked
by infrequent photos with little description.
For example, despite the fact that her vocabulary now contains hundreds of words
(and is growing by the minute),
I never bothered to post that her first word was "apple"
and her first word combo was "open this"
(which she loves to say and demands that people open everything for her...
only occasionally do we get "open this.... please")
Ilea's favorite thing to do is to play with Orin.
She believes that she is just as capable as he is
and wants to do whatever he is doing.
They play air hockey, floor hockey, and jump-off-the-bed-shrieking.
She loves people and wants to be held by everybody, which she lets people know
by thrusting her hands in the air and then waiting
with an expectant look on her face.
She actually did this to an old lady in the grocery store one day,
who was quite taken aback, but did lift her up and talk to her for a minute
before finishing her shopping.
She also loves to read and to color
and, of course, all things having to do with hockey
(which was also one of her first words)
about what pair of shoes she want to wear that day,
her favorite being her pink snow boots with the fake fur top.
She wants to drink from a glass, sit on a regular chair,
and eat with a fork, despite how messy that normally turns out.
Probably because she loves messes, or more specifically proclaiming
that they are there. She will come get me and say "Mommy... ah mess"
(she doesn't say a sharp "a", just "ah", and then waves her hand in a circle
like she is washing the windshield of a car.
Her pronunciation is not as good as Orin's was at this age,
but we can understand most of the things she says in context.
For example, in the bathroom she says "gum dum"
which is her way of saying vitamin (or gummy vitamin).
She calls water "bah gah" and milk "muck".
Other things she says crystal clear like "Hoppy" (our pet rabbit) and "noodles."
Anyway, I just thought I should write down a couple of the things
that I will forget about years from now
and apologize for not documenting her toddler time better.
To say life has been a bit crazy for the last couple
years is the understatement of the century,
but it has certainly been the most wonderful ride I have ever been on.
More to come.
