Lola, when just starting to speak, used to say “dis, dis” and point with her finger while her thumb stuck out at right angles to it.
Neve says, “hee-ya, hee-ya” while indicating the seat on which you should sit, or the plate which you should fill with food, or the shoes you should be putting on her feet. In fact, in the latter case, she would now say, “shuz, hee-ya” (I can’t quite get the phonetic rendering of her version of “shoes”: the vowel is somewhere between an “oo” and an “u”). And, if wanting second helpings, it would be “mo, hee-ya”. Of course we’re all saying it, Lola included.
Neve is utterly lovely — I wish I had more time to blog about her. Or, indeed, at all; with both Neve and a new house added into the mix, time has not been plentiful.
Neve is very independent these days. She loves to have company but will happily play by herself while someone is around. She’s gotten more into her cuddly toys and dolls recently and will often be found walking around with one or more in her arms. Or she’ll be taking care of her baby, or on of the rag dolls (Alba or Aurora); maybe putting a nappy on or putting it to bed.
She loves to climb up on chairs to get to stuff and will drag or push one into place to reach the worktop or the sink or whatever. She’s mad keen on the sink and will spend ages “washing up”: filling things with water, emptying them into each other, refilling them.
Often, she wakes early and I’ll take her with me, still in her sleeping bag, to make the morning drinks. She’ll help me open the fridge, take her milk out and unscrew the lid, help hold down the coffee dispenser while I fill the moca, get her bottle from the cupboard, remind me to get the echinacea… It’s a great ritual.