Deese

Reese is almost 2 and she's changing and learning so much.  I hope I never forget some of the best parts of this stage of her life.

Like, for example, how she calls herself 'Deese'.  And how she still uses the one and only sign language motion we taught her, 'more'.  When Reese needs to held nonstop, she follows her people around, crying, 'Ahntchoo.'  You know, 'Want you.'  She k
nows more words than we can count and loves pointing through books and calling out titles of the pictures.

Anytime someone asks Reese a question, her answer is the same: 'Josh'.  "What's your baby's name?" or "What will the theme of your birthday party be?"  or "What should we eat for dinner?"  It's always, "Josh."  If we look away for a moment, she tends to escape out the dog door with Josh.  We will often look out a window to see the two of them, wandering the backyard together - usually unclothed.  We've taken to calling the two of them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.  She does love that dog, but we also think that she considers Josh's name to be a generally accepted term of frustration.  She sees us call his name often when he's in trouble, so it makes sense.  Because of this, she's always blaming Josh for doing things that she has done.  "Who made this mess?"  "Who took off your dirty diaper?"  Her answer is almost always the same: 'Josh'.  She also has figured out how to get a laugh.  She occasionally walks into the room and gathers herself.  After much mental effort, she will tell me, 'Josh did it.'  I don't think she has the intuitive ability to know why we think it's so funny, but she does know we laugh at it.

Reese is obsessed with babies and ducks.  We visit the 'duck park' often, and she knows when we are driving past the park.  Without fail, when we pull up to the stop sign by the ducks, she will call out, "Quack quack!"  Her other obsession, babies, is as entertaining.  She carries two to four baby dolls with her everywhere she goes and anytime we are around someone else's real live baby, she claims it as her own.  She spends most of playgroups telling me that her friend's baby brother or sister is, "my baby".  She says it with a deep southern accent, so it comes out more like, 'baybeee'.  Recently, at a playgroup, one of the families left just before us and Reese threw an absolute fit.  It took me a bit to figure out why: the mom had loaded up her newborn, and it bothered Reese that her baby was being taken away from her.

Reese is the same light-hearted, joyful, determined kid she's always been.  We love watching how her delightful personality expresses itself as each new stage of life develops.

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