buckles, cups, birds

i don't know where to begin with how amazed i am with elenora. she started saying actual words tonight. she was sitting in her high chair and playing with the buckle that straps her in while i cleared her dinner and suddenly i heard her say "uh-kle." i swear i did. and then she said some variation of those two syllables about six more times. always with the "-kle" sound, which is not a sound i've heard her make before.

j. and i both think we've heard her say "ducky" while holding her rubber duck in the past two weeks.

then during her tubby tonight she was holding the cup that i pour water over her head with and i said "this is a cup, elenora" and she responded with a really hard "k" sound as if she were starting the word "cup."

she knows the difference between her feet and her toes.

she knows the difference between "where is your basketball?" and "where is daddy's basketball?" (we got her a plush basketball that rattles)

she claps her hands.

if you say the word "hi" to ella she waves back at you with a huge smile.

if you ask her "do you want some more?" of something and she doesn't, she shakes her head "no" and waves her hand as if to dismiss whatever it is you're offering.

last night she was playing on the floor and i placed the basket of blocks in front of her and she went to pull it over, but before she pulled it over she flinched in anticipation of the noise it would make when the blocks came tumbling out.

today we went outside and crawled around on the picnic blanket on the lawn and i said "ella, where is the tree?" and she looked up behind me at the leaves rustling in the tree.

i've never stressed the concept of "tree" before.

then i said "ella, do you hear the birds?" and she looked up into the sky and her whole facial expression showed that she did indeed hear the birds singing. how does she know what a bird is? how does she know what "hearing" is? how does she know where to look for birds?

she is stunning.