G got on the subject of presents. Not sure how, not sure it matters. She likes cakes, and candles, and presents — you can transition into that pretty easily from anywhere else if you are motivated. And G is nothing if not motivated.

So Beckie busted out an easel with a whiteboard on it that she had been storing in the garage for…well…a future present. And we put on party hats. And i lit a candle. G blew the candle out and made me relight it over a dozen times. I counted. It went like this:

click-light-blow-“again!!!!”

eventually my thumb got tired of flicking the lighter.

She began playing with the whiteboard, and then I drew a stick figure with a cone on its head. And G said “that’s me!” So Beckie drew it holding a candle with a flame and said “blow G”. and she did, and we erased the flame. And so it went for another dozen repetitions, with me resting my tired thumb but now getting carpel tunnel from writing and erasing.

She’s been looking at big and little things and calling them Mommy and Baby. She remembers stuff now, a lot. She talks to her toys when she plays with them. The dog looks on blankly and wonders why she is making so much noise; this may have marked the day the baby officially became smarter than the dog.   is it fair to say that, in comparison, the dog is slack-jawed?   i would give Kila and G almost equal chances of surviving if Beckie and I fell off the face of the planet now.   Slight edge to Kila cause she knows how to avoid traffic.