Sponge

Mom always told me that I should provide input for my little ones because they are little sponges. This thought haunts me as I watch my ability to actually DO anything diminish.

With Josh, I could sit with him and read 20 books.

With Eva, I could sit and read 3.

With Lily...the only literary input she gets most of the time is when she bites chunks out of the pages of the books the kids throw around when they are using them as "rock" to stay off the "lava" on the playroom floor (which offends me).

I keep telling myself she will pick stuff up just by being with Josh and Eva (and hopefully not just the naughty stuff).

So, the following incident that happened at dinner a few weeks ago, brought me great joy:

I am a firm believer that conversation should be held at the dinner table. Maybe it's all those Mormon ads about spending time with your family, I don't know. But, we all sat chatting and munching away.

Finally there was a lull in the conversation. Lily puffed herself up in her high chair, looked around the table, opened her mouth wide and said, slowly and distinctly, "BLAH BLAH BLAH."

I started laughing, she looked pleased, and I felt all better. She's got the main idea. It was only a few days later she added "hi" to her vocabulary. It's her favorite, and if you spend enough time with her, she will say it at least 5 times to you.

It's nice knowing that in spite of all our patchy parenting, kids grow up anyway.