Last week in speech therapy we were playing with the Quail and I randomly picked up a baby doll and said, “Kiss the baby!”…and….she did! And then I said it again, and she did it again, and again, and again! Monique and I cheered and cheered! Then I leaned in and said, “Kiss your momma!” and grinned widely 2 inches from her face. She just leaned back gazing stoically at me. Um, not so much. The next morning I pulled out the same babydoll and we did an encore performance for Lovey. I also pulled out a toy baby bottle and handed it over with a “Feed your baby!” directive and she did as well! It was precious. We had a few more encores and now she seems to be sooooooooo past that.We’ll keep at it though. We have also had a few isolated signings of Mama! Miss Quail has definitely become more animated as of late. There was just something so clear in her response to the directive to kiss the baby. She has been waving hesitantly as well as offering up a few quiet consonants. Then one night, oh; about 3 am we discovered, or rather she discovered her preferred audience: a sleeping family that is quiet long enough for her to get a vowel sound or two in edgewise. For the last 2 weeks we have listened bleary-eared to her practicing her run of vowels with a few random z’s, g’s, d’s and b’s for a good 1/2 hour show around 3 am each night. She isn’t hungry, or upset, just chatty, loudly chatty. Fortunately for us, her sister sleeps through it. Unfortunately for us, we don’t. Of course as soon as Monique settles in across from her each week for speech therapy, she clams up. She tends to have a similar response to both OT and PT. Leave her alone with her toys and she’ll drop them, pick them, transfer them, pull them out, put them in, lift them overhead and happily gum them. She’ll lower herself from sitting onto her belly, roll from front to back and back again, rotate around in a circle to get a toy….but as soon as the therapist or one of us starts actively trying to engage her in one of these activities we are often met with either silent and firm resistance or active batting away of our entreaties with her pudgy little hands. Now that I think about it, it is not unlike the nursing sessions. She is definitely clear that she will do what she wants, when she wants. There will be no forcing or bending of wills here…

Meanwhile, Momma is here still waiting for her kisses….