baby einstein

It's so fascinating, being around a kid again. For most of my life - until I moved to Germany - I had at least one or two running babysitting gigs and plenty of neighborhood kids, or friends' kids, running around. It feels somehow wrong to be around grown-ups exclusively.

So I'm enjoying the time with my niece, playing with her but at the same time staring in awed, drop-jawed fascination at the ways in which her personality is already asserting itself (for example, she is indubitably left-handed and likes things to be orderly, symmetrical and as tall as possible) and how she's learning to name the world, communicate her needs, and even make jokes. Barely two years old and already able to tease and to contort language in a way calculated to make us laugh.

By the time you're two you are supposed to be able to string two words together. Hailey's style is more like: "I want eggs for breffast. Auntie Jessie, you want eggs for breffast too?" "Adda, Auntie Jessie want eggs for breffast too! You cook eggs? My help you?"

She's already got a handle on time adverbs. She can distinguish "now", "later", "tomorrow" and "next week," and she won't let you forget what you promised to do "tomorrow," either.

Right before she went down for her nap, we were playing with duplos (Legos on steroids). "I need help with this one! Build my tower higher!" she commanded... this coming from Hailey who is standing on tiptoes on her stepstool adding just one more lego to the tower that is already at least 6 inches taller than she is. Two-year-olds are supposed to be able to build a tower of four blocks. She's clearly a genius. :-)