Smarty pants

Maybe I'm biased, maybe its just that she's the same as everyone else, but she's my only so I don't know.

But Abby is pretty damn smart.

She knows things, she remembers things, she can initiate things without asking.

Examples:
In the morning, when we are getting dressed, she gets antsy so I give her things to play with to distract her while I try to wrangle her into some clothing.  There isn't much by, but I've given her both the brush and the comb to play with.  Immediately, she takes them to her head and starts moving them over her hair.  Of course, she doesn't have it quite right, but she knows those implements go in her hair. 

She knows where the snacks are.  And she will ask for them.  And if you move them, she will know, and she will tell you.  I put a can of cheese puffs on the counter the other day.  She saw me and she demanded (hahaha) that she have some.  So I gave her a few and sent her on her way.  A few minutes later she was pulling at the cabinets.  I thought she was just playing, but I moved her away so she wouldn't get hurt.  But she went right back and started to fuss.  Then I realized that she wanted more puffs.  So I gave her some and she toddled away happily. 

I caught her the other day trying to climb up the side of the crib.  She was grunting at something.  She wanted the paci that was in it.  She couldn't see it, but she knew it was in there.  We are weaning from day time use of the paci, so that was a no go, but a good try.

She asks everyday when we get home for dog and dada.  They usually aren't home yet, but its the first thing she says when we get out of the car.

She loves to play peek a boo.  And if you say "peek a boo" she will hold her hands up to her face and then pull them away and laugh.  Sometimes she will just do it on her own without you saying it.  And if you don't say it when she does it, you better watch it.  She will grunt at you until you do.  Doing it again and again till you say something.

I've tried a little sign language, but the only one that's caught on is more.  At dinner time, I usually only put a few things on her tray at a time, to reduce what Woody gets to eat.  When she's ready, she will grunt and kick and point at the stuff on the bar.  I will sign for more, and she will sign back.  I'm looking for the moment when she signs instead of grunts, or at least while grunting.

I think Gene and I are fairly intelligent, so it wouldn't surprise me that she would be smart.  I think we are both also very intuitive.  Which is a great life skill to have.  I would rather have street smarts over book smarts any day, but a good balance is optimal.

I can't wait to see what else she learns.  I eager to teach her new things, but I'm not sure what!  I know repetition is key.  Her language skills are coming along, although they are still minimal.  She's back to more of the dada sounds and less of the mama sounds.  She can say them if you ask her to.  I'm waiting for her to learn the e sound and that should open the door of her vocabulary.