Learning Language

Both girls are definitely into communication. Gemma definitely understands quite a bit. For awhile now, if you ask for a hug, she'll drop what she is doing and walk over to you, arms outstretched, and give you a little squeeze. She looks a bit like Frankenstein when going in for the hug (Jud says maybe more like one of the early Draculas going in for a bite). In the picture above, she is coming in for a hug and to grab the camera as well. Makes taking pictures a bit more tricky than when she was inert on her back.

Today, Gemma learned her first official word of sign language (other than "hi", "bye" and "up"). With Eleanor's help, she learned to put her hands together in the sign that means "more". So, I peeled an entire grapefruit today and between Gemma and Eleanor asking for more, I had only one bite.
At night, routine for Eleanor includes two books and either songs or a story made up by yours truly. Often she will tell a short story after mine that always seems to hit on the same themes and characters as I talked about. Tonight, she asked to tell the story of Mulan. Granted, she knows nothing about Mulan other than that she is some sort of Disney "Princess". Don't get me started on the Disney princesses. So, she started telling the story about Mulan.
"Is it scary? Why is it scary? What happens?"
I let her know that asking questions is not telling a story. So she starts again.
"Is the story of Mulan going to be too scary for you, Momma? Are you sure? We'll fast forward through the scary parts. Why is it scary? What happens?"
So I told her that if I answered all her questions, I would be telling the story.
"Got you again, Momma, " she says with a sly smile.
We are definitely in for some trouble with this one...