Evolution of a Beautiful Mind

The recesses of my daughter's mind are too much to grasp, sometimes. Though I am so much older than she is, have collected experiences with people and situations, I have to admit that Abigail has the power to amaze and surprise me, unlike most everything in this world. She's an open book in her innocence, but so much of what's written in it, the artifacts of her developing consciousness, is still a mystery to me. Mostly, I think, because she is absorbing and learning so much, and the way the human mind works is absolutely fascinating.

Abbie's creativity and understanding of basic things is quick and at times more complex than I would expect. Those who have never watched a kid grow will not be able to understand what I mean. But those who watch their babies develop and evolve, day after day, one amazing step after the next, know why I marvel at the dazzling complexities of human imagination and understanding.

I don't know how to appropriately depict what I am trying to say. Every day, Abbie does or says things that I immediately want to write about. I wish I could, because I don't want to forget any of these little, gigantic milestones, and how happy and excited they make me feel.

Today, for example, Abbie learned the first two letters of the alphabet, A and B. We were playing with her alphabet puzzle, and while she was putting the pieces together, I was naming the letters. "A", "T", "W", "G".... Soon she got bored, and went to play with her bear, but when she saw me getting the puzzle pieces off the floor and back in their box, she grabbed the letter A, and, handing it to me, she said "A". Just like that. "A". I said: "Are you calling this letter "A", Abbie?" And she said "A!". Then she grabbed the letter "B", and dropping it in the box, said "B". I was laughing so hard, she laughed too, though I doubt she knew why. I felt so proud.

A few nights ago, while having dinner, another surprise: she patted her chest and triumphally blurted out: "ME!". She did it several times, "Me! Me!" -- she pointed at her dad and said "Daddy!", then patted her chest again and said "Me!". Not Abbie, as she normally does, rather "me". Her eyes reflected the ecstasy she was feeling at having grasped such a concept, she was absolutely lustrous with her own achievement. That was another great moment, for us, in all its simplicity and charm.

The funny part of it all is that I have no idea where she picks up some of the things that she is learning. The alphabet is something else, because I do show her the letters and name them to her. But something like identifying herself as "me" falls into a different category: I don't go around the house thumping my chest and calling myself "me". To me, it's simply amazing.

It's something out of this world, the conceptual blending, the mental mechanisms that suddenly seem to bind together and integrate all these elements into complex ideas. It's the evolution of my daughter's mind, and I utterly love it.

WWF Abbie

Abigail is an animal lover. She loves all animals, she finds all of them interesting, and is curious about all the little and big creatures that she sees.

For one thing, having a dog has facilitated her propensity to like animals. Shelby has not always been the most accepting of Abigail throughout the last 18 months. But she is warming up to the idea that she no longer is "the baby" -- or maybe I should say that she has resigned to it -- and has randomly shown some affection toward Abbie.


Abigail, however, unawares of any jealousy issues, thinks of Shelby as her pal, her best friend. Shelby's is the first name she will call (after mine) when she wakes up in the morning: "Shebby!!", and once in a while, when Abbie chats, you can clearly identify the word "Shebby" here and there. At times, with a tinge of facetiousness, I will say to her: "yeah yeah, 'Shebby', Ford, Buick, Pontiac, whathaveyou!" and Abbie will smile at me. When we get home from being out, Abigail invariably runs to the front door and starts knocking while I fumble to find the keys, and calls the dog: "Hi Shebby! Hi Shebby!!". She looks for the dog around the house, "Oh Shebby?". She pets Shelby, hugs her, and gives her kisses on the snout. Abbie has also taken to holding Shelby's leash whenever we go out. She won't let anyone else do that, heaven forbid one should even try.

Also, Abigail loves kitties (chichis), and horses (hoses), and birds (beeds). Last week we took her to see the kitties at Petsmart. Abbie's eyes got big and wild with excitement and happiness, and she started jumping up and down and yelling "Chichis!!! Chichis!!", laughing wholeheartedly, and pointing at them. Eventually, she gathered enough courage to check them out up close and personal. And, just like that, she started meowing at the cats in their cages: "meowwww! meowwww!". I was really surprised at that: I have been trying to teach Abigail for a while what the animals say -- the sheep, the cats, the horse, etc. She will only respond when I ask her "what does the cow say?" -- she'll say "moooooooooooo!". But when I ask her "what does the kitty say?", she will always answer "chichi!", never "meow". So that was a revelation, for me: she knows what the kitty says -- and talks kitty language to them!

She then saw the fish, all sort of little, colored fish, and shouted "feeeeessshhhhh!!!", smacking her hands on the glass. Then we took her over to see the birds. Oh boy, that was something! Abbie was mesmerized: "cheep cheep!", she'd say to them, "Cheeeeep! Cheeeeeep!!". She does that with the birds she sees on the street by the house as well: running to them, she will call them in their own "language".

And of course, as already posted on this blog, Abigail loves horses -- ponies, to be exact. She loves her friends Yang and Yin, in Middleburg. Recently we took her to see them again -- we make regular trips out there just to see the ponies. Here are a few sequences of some videos we took. She's calling the ponies over to her, "poooey!!! poooooeyyyy!" barely able to contain her excitement, and petting them fearlessly -- she has never been afraid of them. "Pooeys here", she says at one point. And lastly, she tries to kiss pony: she puckers her lips to smack him with a kiss, but not being able to reach him, she lays her kiss on the fence instead.

If you pay close attention, you can probably hear her call Shelby as well! Of course: who else?

Daddy's little dancer

Today I had the great fortune to go to Abbie's Mainly Music class which her mommie has been taking her to for several months. Up until now I've only been able to watch the pictures and videos of how much fun she has there.

Abbie has always loved music, and since she's been able to teeter on her two little legs, she has danced and swayed instinctively to music. It makes me so happy to see how much music (literally) moves her.

So taking advantage of my day off, I went with Abbie and mommie to her class. I didn't mind that I was only one of three guys there in a room full of mommies with their little angels. I was all about seeing my little girl twirl and jump and enjoy herself in one of her favorite activities.

I can tell already that we're going to need to save up for dance lessons! I can't wait to go back with them again.

Smiles! Or is it Abbies?

As I mentioned before, Abbie is, for the most part, a good eater. She eats almost everything I put on her plate, and she is learning the names of most things that she likes. Peas, tatoes (potatoes), kiken (chicken), patta (pasta), sup (soup), juice, meet (meat), samm (salmon), feesh (fish), etc...

Recently, I have started to introduce more "commercial-type" foods in her diet, and by that I mean I basically don't have as much time to cook everything from scratch like I used to, though I keep trying. So, my freezer currently hosts a range of edible items I never even knew existed -- until now -- which occasionally constitute her meals.

One of these items is McCain's Smiles, which are mashed potatoes shaped like little smiling faces. She loves them! I don't blame her, because they are good.

But the real point to this story is this: though Abigail correctly identifies the foods that she eats, she does not refer to the Smiles as "tatoes" or "Smilies", as I do. Rather, she calls them "Abbies"! She'll pick one up from the plate, wave it around, and with a grin the replicates that of the smiling shape, she'll tell me: "Abbie!!!". I have to admit: I see the similarities... don't you?

Eureka! Please and Help are now official!

Abbie is learning the power of the magic Words: "Please" and "Help". She's learning that she gets farther by saying "please" (pease) or "help" (hep) rather that screaming/pointing when she wants something or grunting when she can't get something done.

She is also learning that these two powerful words can be used reciprocally: she can ask for help and get it, and when we can ask her for help, it means that we need her to do something for us.

Tonight, while lying on my back and watching her play, I had her little rubber ball in my hands. She came over to get it, and while she was reaching for it, she said: "Ball, pease? Pease?". After a while, she moved on to another toy, and I grabbed the ball again and began to toss it in the air. I missed catching the ball which rolled away from me. I attempted to reach for it, while saying, "Help! Help!". Abbie came to the rescue by running over to the ball, repeating "Hep! Hep!". She picked it up and brought it to me. Then trotted away, smiling with the pride of knowing she did something good.

I know it's not much, but here is to hope! "Thank you" is next on my list!

Monkey business

Abbie has a new favorite game: climbing on trees. Of course, yours truly is there to help her every step of the way -- let's be real, the kid is only 32 inches long. Be that as it may, Abigail now wants to get on every tree on the horizon.

I indulge her, of course, because I simply cannot resist that smile and that laughter once she's on a tree branch, looking around, patting the tree and reaching for an even higher branch. She's fearless. I suspect this is another trait that she gets from me: I was very much into tree climbing when I was a kid in into my teenage years (yes, I was an unusual teenager... go ahead an laugh). My mom used to say: "if you cannot see Carol in the park, look up, check the trees."

Here is a pictorial log of Abbie's first tree climbing!

Who is it? It's the Schwartzman Quartet!

My daughter loves music and dancing, and whenever she hears music, her eyes take on a certain shine of happiness and anticipation. She loves, loves, loves, loves "Jack's Big Music Show", which airs on Noggin.

The show is really very cute, and I truly enjoy watching it with her! In short: Jack, a fun-loving preschooler puppet, escapes each day to his backyard clubhouse, where he and his friends (Mary; his green and purple striped drum playing dog, Mel --"Oh, Melsie Boy!") hang out doing what they love best - making music. The show also features guest appearances and music videos by popular children’s musicians. You simply cannot watch this show and not become an instant fan.

I have always been adverse to the idea of Abbie watching TV. But JBMS is an interactive show, which gets her up dancing, clapping, jumping and singing. Now, when Abbie looks at the TV screen, she starts screaming "SHO!!!! SHO!!!!!!". I'd never have imagined how positive a child’s interaction with TV could be or how amusing.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the show, among which The Schwartzman Quartet, Abbie's and mine favorite part of the show!

Abercrombie and Fitch, and Abbie

Abbie had a mesmerizing experience last week, at Abercrombie and Fitch. Note: I hate A&F. There isn't a store that I won't set foot in, except for A&F. It's so "clicky", a retailer trying to sell a look to people that, bottom line, says: "stop being ugly, ugly doesn't sell." Well, the fact that they gratuitously exploit any type of negative "ism" in the dictionary to sell t-shirts like hotcakes doesn't really make me a fan.

Regardless, or "irregardless" (as undoubtedly A&F customers would say) Abbie got the shock of her life while walking in front of their store at the Fair Oaks Mall. She let go of my hand, and simply stood there, at the entrance of the store, staring at this typical "A&F's Boys" poster. She stood motionless, totally devoured by how big, shiny, and obnoxious the whole thing was. Loud music blared from inside the store, but (unlike her usual self) she didn't try to dance, she didn't wiggle and jump around to the rhythm. I called her, over and over, and over, but she just stood there. Staring. Motionless and speechless.

Finally, a few minutes into this, I picked her up and walked away, telling her "don't look back, honey! Look into the light! Look into the light!"

Poor kid. Scarred for life.

Mammy's Little Helper

Some time ago I wrote about Abigail's "domesticity", a.k.a the willingness to assist me in my daily chores. The other day, as I got my Swiffer ready to mop the floor, she comes running to me and yelling "HEP!!! HEP!!!": she wanted to help me (I've been teaching her to say HELP when she wants me to do something for her, and I can only assume she is applying it reciprocally as well). In fact, she happily grabbed the mop, started mopping the kitchen, and then eagerly moved on to mopping the carpet.

Well, today she took her involvement in household affairs to a whole new level: she vacuumed our living room rug. Here's proof!

Such a good little helper, my work time is cut in half!