Over the last year or so I’ve realized why parents get excited and act all goofy about the most random stuff. I’ve started to do the same thing when it comes to Siler.

It seems like each week Siler learns a new word or a new way to communicate with us. Just last week she started saying “eat” when she is hungry. It was about 5:45 and Siler was hungry. We typically eat right at 6:00 every night. I was standing at one end of the kitchen getting something out of the fridge. Siler walked around the corner, looked at me and just said “eat”. It was the first time she had done that and I was all excited. It was a simple thing, but it was a big deal to me.

Another thing Siler has been doing for awhile is shake her head when she wants or doesn’t want something. She’s really good at shaking her head to say “no”. At first I thought she was just saying “no” to everything and that she didn’t realize what “no” meant. But I soon figured out that she knew exactly what she was doing. When she’s taking a bath and I ask - “Siler, you ready to get out?” - if she shakes her head “no” and I still try to get her out, she’ll get upset. When she gets thirsty she’ll say “juice” and when I ask her if she wants some juice she’ll nod her head “yes” and walk to the fridge. It’s these little things that make me excited. I just love knowing that when I talk to her, she comprehends what I’m saying and will respond.

Just this week we got up about 15 minutes earlier than usual and ate breakfast together. We all had a bowl of cheerios and it just felt special seeing Siler use a spoon and eat cereal all by herself. It’s a little thing, but it’s a big difference from when she was first born and couldn’t do anything at all.

I look forward to more and more of these little events happening each week. Hopefully I’ll be able to store and remember them all.