Sheer Bliss

Today an unusual gift arrived in the mail. It was the picture our nurse took of Mira just before we were discharged from the hospital (which was submitted to the newspaper). I call this picture a gift because it reminded me of how tiny Mira once was and of how much she has grown and changed -- all right in front of my eyes. Most of her recent changes have been to her vocal repetoire. On Saturday I woke up to the most magical thing I may have ever heard: my daughter talking to herself. Ryan and I just lay in bed listening as she chatted away for a good five minutes. My cheeks hurt from smiling just thinking about it. Aside from increasingly lengthy conversation, Mira's new favorite thing to do is to screech. It's hilarious. She'll screech and then look at you, as if waiting for a reaction (probably because she usually gets one). She seems very impressed with this new-found vocal range. I hesitate to report that Mira has also graced us with her first giggle. I hesitate because Ryan seems to be the only one who can coax them out of her. That's alright . . . we're secretly working on "mamamamama" (okay, so I am more than Mira is). One more big change with Mira is her sudden interest in toys. She's only really interested in a couple of them right now, but I'm sure that will change before I know it.

This past weekend was our town's little festival. Mira saw her first parade and fireworks (from the car). Amazingly, she gave the fireworks her full attention. It was great. Each time one would explode, Ryan would "ooooh and aaaaah". Immediately after, Mira would do her version: "mmmmmm". One more sure way we know that this little girl is a complete drama queen? She got really impatient between fireworks, fussing rather loudly until the next explosion. We really are going to have our hands full, aren't we?!