Laura's Expressions

This morning, around 4 a.m., I jerked awake from a random dream by the sound of Laura crying. It was definitely a distraught, overwrought cry that roused me swiftly out of the bed, as opposed to the more moderate whimper that I tend to ignore. Something was obviously wrong. When I got to her room, I saw that she had been crying for a long time, but thanks to her tampering with the monitor the previous afternoon, I hadn't immediately heard her.

Once I entered the room, I was relieved to know she hadn't gotten sick, or fallen out of her crib. Usually this would lead to a bleary-eyed session of trying to determine what was wrong. But as we are now entering the glorious phase of effective verbal communication, she was able to tell me while shaking off my efforts to pick her up. She pointed to the door between her bedroom and the bathroom, saying, "Close! Close!" Now, the door was already closed. But I noticed light streaming from underneath it, as Danny had evidently left it on when he went to bed. Wondering if it could be this simple, I turned off the light, closed the door once again, and returned to the crib to soothe Laura. Who didn't need me, because once I did those things she sank back down and, with a few sniffles, returned to sleep. (Too bad it took me a lot longer, but oh well.)

I get so caught up in the charm of her emerging speech that I sometimes forget how truly helpful it is to us both. Clare and I used to say to each other, while riding in the car, how nice it would be if Laura could indicate which book she wanted, rather than just "book." Now she can. She still has some funny things, like "wee-oo wee-oo" for shopping cart - but they get her message across. And then there's "CHICKEN!" which I heard last night after a particularly late session at swim practice. Loud and clear.

My favorite, most recent expression of hers isn't remotely helpful, but it cracks me up every time. "What the heck?" I can enjoy it, too, since I don't have to think it so often anymore, wondering what she's trying to tell me!