Lots of changes around here

Z is now a walker. She taught herself to walk carefully, meticulously, and with lots of caution designed to avoid encounters with anything that might hurt. It was impressive to watch: she set her mind to it and practiced and practiced and slowly but surely figured it out, over the course of a little over a month. She took her first step on May 29th. (According to Twitter – apparently, I tweeted this. Which was smart because my brain has absolutely no record of that date.)

And, and! She understands a bunch of words in Hungarian, some in English, and knows some phrases, mostly having to do with determining where, for example, her head is, which she also knows in English. A pretty cool party trick, incidentally: your baby showing everyone where her head is in two languages.

But, also! I’m pretty sure Z’s now trying to SAY a few words. She can say bye-bye (or, well, the Hungarian baby-form of it: pah-pah – close enough though), I’ve heard her say something very close to ‘ball’ (labda) at a ball several times now, and today while driving home from the dry cleaner’s we stopped at a red light and I heard her say something that sounded suspiciously like ‘head’ (fej) and when I turned around to see her she was looking straight at me and smiling, holding her head. So… I think she said ‘head’ and then to emphasize her point, she showed me where her head was.

Sadly, we’re now also entering a phase where she freaks out completely when I leave her with anyone else. Which always makes me feel sorry for those someone elses although I’m always quite certain my child will survive until I get back and feel somewhat less sorry for her. Cruel, I know. I can’t deny I feel flattered, in a bittersweet sort of way. Never again, for the rest of her life, will she think I am so irreplaceably awesome.