Monkey see, little monkey do

Addison is getting to be the best little copy cat around. After a mere 15 months on the planet, she is starting to try and use objects for their intended use. For instance, tonight, she was quite eager to hold the fingernail clippers. After getting them, she promptly sat in the floor, lifted her foot and put the clippers to her toes. She's very foot oriented at this point in time. She tries to put on her socks and shoes as well. And who knew that daddy's big ol' sneakers would be just the right fit for Addison's baby doll? Well she did of course. Many evenings are spent as she puts the baby's feet in daddy's shoes and tries to get those cloghoppers to fit!
She's getting pretty good with a fork and spoon too. I'm not at the point where I let her fly solo during her meals, but she definitely is gaining knowledge about how to maneuver her new tools and actually get the food in her mouth. She knows that a brush is for hair and tries to brush her own....usually to my dismay after I've worked so hard to get those pigtails in place. There have been so many "Aha!" moments for me...as if I'm trying to communicated with a foreigner and I finally figure out what they are trying to say to me. Every day I have these moments where I actually get it! I get the word that she is using for something, like banana to her is "Nah". She consistently calls it "nah" and it took a while to recognize that. To date, she can say the following words: mama, dadda, dog, wow, woof woof, meow, "nah", uh-oh, book, no and sometimes I think she's saying her name in the form of "Adda".
This morning I had another "Aha!" moment:
Mornings are our snuggle times in the Thurman house. Addison always wakes up in the best mood. She is loving and happy as she inundates us with hugs and kisses. This morning she had a small lotion bottle with her as daddy plopped her in our bed for our morning love fest. She would take her lotion bottle and put in on her head. It wasn't until she started doing it to Michael that I understood that she was pretending to put shampoo on her daddy's head..and my head....and her head..and the cat. That really floored me, as I watched her rub the "shampoo" in my husband's hair, that she was already pretending even at this young age.
I am here to tell you that nothing on this planet beats being a mom. It's the most amazing journey and every day a new adventure.