March 5, 2012

50


The lady was sitting opposite from me at the miniature table with the kid-sized chairs. She was guiding her grandson to color the bear outline printed out for everyone at the library playgroup. She scanned the room of babies for a second before looking at me. "So," she said, making the small talk necessary for such cramped spaces, "How many words is your daughter saying?"

The question surprised me, but the answer seemed to surprise her more. "Around 50," I said. It's not that I memorized them all, of course. I knew from the list.


Since the day Millie said her first word- "bye-bye"- I've written them all down. Most of them have dates missing, but the words and their unique pronunciations are there. And a few weeks ago, I ended the list at 50.  Her vocabulary grows almost daily, and soon she'll string together sentences that will turn into paragraphs are stories.

My memory is so poor, but I wanted to remember this. Because, out of everything she's done, speaking her first word was one of the most thrilling things to me. And when she's old and I'm much older, I can tell her even more than the story of "bye-bye".

I can tell her 50 stories.

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P.S. You may have noticed some change around here. Thank you to Fran from Free Borboleta for designing my new blog header! Doesn't it look fresh? After much debate on Facebook, this was the one most liked by all of you, so I switched things up accordingly. I'll be getting a matching blog button soon.

12 kind comments from you:

Anonymous said...

Awe. I love that you wrote them down. I failed in the mommy department on that.


Love the new look! Very fresh and spring-like!

Sue said...

This is a cute idea, I'm sure one day she'll love those stories!

Michelle said...

So smart! I'm sure she'll treasure this.

Michelle said...

Oh, and I absolutely love the new header!

Erinn said...

I need to start making a list of things to do when the right time rolls around for chris and I to have kids. This is a really great idea which will definitely go on that list :)

Jamie said...

I love this. I wish I would have written more down as my daughter has grown up. It is so true that it just all happens so fast...

Mel said...

Awww, you're such an involved mommy. She will definitely cherish this list.

Karen said...

The new layout looks great! Such a good idea to keep a running list. :)

Michelle said...

Your blog looks so great! It's all bright and cheery and happy :) I need to do the same with mine!

I love that you recorded her words! That's something I'll have to rememver for the future :)

Fran said...

Aw I love this!!! I swear the day I get pregnant (it'd be a second, but) I will be looking all throughout your blog for ideas on things to do! :)

ps, thanks for the shout out! :)

beka said...

awwww, that's sweet. i love how you wrote she said it like 'wowwwer' for flowers. i love when they say things like that :)

Chantal said...

That is so sweet! I should do this too!

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