Wow! Amazing!

In the last few weeks Lily has had a massive language explosion.

All of a sudden she is able to express to us how she is feeling, what she wants and why she wants it and to describe the world around her, sometimes with remarkable insight.

For me, the best thing about it has been that she is actually articulating her feelings to me. We were having terrible trouble with her just screaming when she needed something. We've talked a lot to her about frustration, anger, disappointment and feeling mad. This week we have really been making inroads, with her asking for what she wants calmly instead of automatically freaking out. "Help Mummy!" "Meme (excuse me) Mummy" "Sorry" "Open" and "More!" have been added to her repertoire alongside "Please" and "No." Some of these words she has had for a while, but she is now applying them in order to prevent frustration and anger by getting help achieving her goals.

"No" has always been something we have, under most circumstances, allowed Lily to say. She uses it to explain to us she doesn't like something, needs personal space, is not ready for or does not want something or to claim ownership, usually of food from the dog.

"More" has been a double edged sword though. Instead of throwing herself on the kitchen floor and sobbing, she now asks for "More!" Which is great when she is waving her cup around or is stuffing the last piece of sweet potato in her mouth, but not so great when she's sitting at the table eating her lunch, but actually wants me to put on another episode of Hi 5 or when she stands watching me feed Archer and actually wants me to read her another book. We're getting better and are slowly but surely finding she adds more of what to request, yesterday asking for "More water" a few times.

She has also been expressing her actual feelings, especially sad, tired and funny (which is a catch all for happy and enjoyment). Funny almost exclusively applies to Archer, but has also been applied to Oscar and me.

Another thing she has been trying to do is act as a mouth piece for Archer. If he is crying she tries to explain whether he's feeling tired, sad or mad. If she feels he is suffering some sort of injustice, she protects his interests, such as toys or food, by claiming ownership for him.

We have found this last week or two that she talks all the time. You know when people say that, and they just mean a lot. She literally talks all the time. Unending, sensible descriptions of the world around her, sometimes in sentences of up to five words, singing, counting, reading stories, chattering to me or Archer. If everything is described and counted, and all the stories are read, she will stroke her brother saying over and over in the sweetest, most loving voice ever, "Hello Archie".

Armed with her new words, she frequently uses them to talk about Archer. Delighted yelling "Coming Archie!" when he wakes and sighing sadly when she can't find him, "Archie sleeping?"

The very best new thing in her arsenal of words is that she has been expressing wonder at everything, "Wow! Amazing!"

And right now, quite literally as I type, she just threw her arms around me and said, for the first time ever, "I love Mummy."

I've been waiting for this since I got the positive pregnancy test! So much joy right now!