Siwwy wabbit. Twicks are for kids.

OK, Claire has officially entered a new phase. One that eclipses her parents' ability to keep up with her. One that is both exciting and demanding and intimidating. One that has kind of turned a tree on its head.



Claire 's memory and learning capacity has grown fourfold in the past two weeks. She has started signing words with earnest. Besides "light," "done," "fan," "ball," "hat" and "bye-bye," she's begun signing "banana." She flashes this two-handed sign anytime she sees us bring the fruit to the table. Even when we utter the word. This week, Sarah was walking through Trade Joe's when Claire let out a "BLAAGHH!" She started making the banana sign. Sure enough, Sarah realized they were in the produce section, next to a pile of monkey business.

Claire actually said "da-da" a couple times on Wednesday night. She was looking up from mom's lap where she was nursing, trying to get my attention, when she did it. She signs "mom" and "dad," too, though she uses the same sign for both of us. ...We think.

We're working with her on "ma-ma." She knows what the word means. She just can't get the "m" sound out quite yet. Heck, I have trouble with it too, sometimes.



More evidence? Last weekend, she picked up the remote control. That, in itself isn't unusual. She considers it a toy. But she's never pointed it at the TV before. This time, she pointed it at the TV. Then, she looked at me. It was as if she was saying, "See, dad, what I can do?" or, worse, "Isn't this how you turn it on?"

We don't watch that much TV. How did she learn to do that? Wasn't from our babysitter, I'm pretty sure.



Our babysitter did capture this array of images. Claire tried a toy tree on for size, a gift from Matt's parents, and promptly forgot about it. She went along playing on the futon with her babysitter's cellphone, tree firmly planted atop her head.

And, last weekend she hung out, upside down, with Daniel. Glad he and his parents could stop by.