It has begun. Isabella is “talking”. By “talking”, I mean “making a stream of mostly happy ah-s and oo-s, usually while gnawing on a stuffed bunny rabbit”. This phase started the day before Michelle took her to visit her mother in NY and is continuing without fail. Once, she actually managed to say “da-da”, but it was a fluke, I’m sure.

Other tricks of late have included, but are not limited to:

• Objecting when a toy has been taken away. This happened last night when, while giving her her nighttime bath, I briefly took her beloved chewy yellow triangle away from her. Instantly, her face turned beet-red and she started to throw the worst fit I’ve ever seen. I gave her back the triangle, and she stopped, looked at it, took it from my hands and resumed chewing on one of the points.

• Sitting upright, with minimal support. She can’t put herself in that position, but she stays balanced if you plop her on her butt in the middle of a Boppy.

• Discovering the existence of Kevin (the cat). She stops whatever she is doing whenever she sees him enter the room, and gets really agitated when he leaves. Kevin ignores Isabella and refuses to approach her on his own, unless he’s on his way to see one of the adults. Perhaps he’s noticed the zeal with which she, when offered my hair, will pull on it, all the while squealing with delight.