Abby+Olly

Prospect Park Zoo

Hi, Kitty, Hi

We welcomed Lucy back into our lives last weekend. She had been staying with a family in our neighborhood while we've been displaced from our apartment. The family couldn't keep her any longer, and with just 2 weeks left until we're able to move into our home, our landlord was gracious enough to break his no-pets policy for the remainder of our stay.

Anyway, Abby hadn't seen Lucy since December, and we were wondering how they would take to one another. It used to be that Lucy would try to sit on Abby while she was reading or playing, desperate for any kind of attention, even that of a sticky fingered, ear-pulling toddler. Abby would push her out of the way and say, bye-bye, kitty.

It seems the tables have turned.

Abby adores Lucy now, and chases her around the apartment shouting, "Hi, Kitty, hi!" She follows Lucy carrying her bowl of cat food and says, "Kitty, I have cat food for you!" If she happens to catch Lucy lounging on the couch, she gives her a kiss and pokes at her nose, ears and paws. She tries to make Lucy play hide and seek with her by pushing her into a small built-in closet in our dining room.

I thought maybe Lucy would revel in the extra attention, but she seems rather annoyed. She tucks herself deep into the hall closet and emerges when she is certain Abby is not in sight. She lumbers off the couch in a preemptive strike against a toddler's effusive affections.

Mmmm...Poetic justice, indeed.

Bubblehat

Ah-POO-pus

Keeping up with Abby's exploding vocabulary is a delightful - and sometimes tricky - endeavor. Like most parents, we possess an uncanny ability to translate her baby speak. Just yesterday, she said, "Waru! Waru!" and I shouted to Mark, "did you hear her?" She just said, Where Are You?

But, my all time favorite new word has to be ah-poo-pus, aka octopus. She stumbles over the the first syllable with a slight stutter, emphasizes the middle and finishes with a sweet little 'pus' and a smile. She has a puzzle with an octopus in it and I point to it several times a day just to get her to say it again and again. She also asks us to draw pictures of this 'ah-poo-pus' and her easel is filled with colorful renditions of the eight-legged creature. It's a wonderful word, ahpoopus, and I hope she never learns to say it correctly.