the latest on Leila

Leila is such an amazing child, but then every parent probably thinks the same about their children. Her vocabulary has been growing so much in the last few weeks. The other night I hid a book under my shirt and then asked her where it was. Then she hid it, and said something that sounded like “Where is it?” The pronunciation was bad, but the intonation was correct. She also says “cookie” and “teeth.”
When I’m brushing my teeth she’ll come into the bathroom and point up at the cabinet where I keep the tooth brushes and say “teeth.” I’ll give her hers and she loves it. She tries to imitate me while I’m brushing and when I spit, but luckily she doesn’t really spit. It used to be hard to get the brush away from her. Once it went missing for several days—she’d put it in the closet in the study when she got tired of it. (Another time she put her bottle of milk in the pantry. Because she is so obsessive about closing doors, she’d closed the door and I couldn’t find it anywhere.)
Another word that she’s said for a very long time- one of her first words in fact- is “cab, cab.” She says it when she wants to watch cartoons on the computer, because she used to watch one called “La Chupacabra” with her Dad.
Leila has gotten very good at giving hugs. She will walk around with her arms out saying “hug, hug, hug.” Then she’ll go over to the refrigerator and give it a big hug. She may be partly hugging her own reflection in the black surface.
She’s also known the word “hot” for a long time. Last night I was running the water, and when she saw the steam coming off it, she said “hot.” She’s also said it right before she reaches up and touches a pot on the stove. Now she associates it with pots and will say “hot” when we look at pictures that have pots.
The good news on the baby front is that it looks like I may be able to do this one at the birth center with a midwife! The scary thing is no epidurals! And, I have to tell my doctor, who I like alot, that I'm not going to come and see her anymore. But maybe she'll come to dinner.