Mother's Day Surprises and Amazing Feats--Oh Boy!

Perhaps this may be completely normal for her age, but I continue to be AMAZED at Pumpkin's development. She sings "round and round" for 'Wheels on the Bus,' "e-i-e-i-o," for 'Old McDonald,' and "la, la, la," for the theme to 'Elmo's World.' She knows the numbers 1-5 and the letters A, B, C, D, G, M, O, U, X, Y and Z. She can also repeat her vowels, but doesn't identify them visually specifically yet. Today, in complete awe to me, she walked over and pulled a picture in a frame with the word BABY on it and brought it to me. She then pointed out each letter on the frame saying "b-a-b-y, baby." I just about fell off the chair I was sitting on! She spelled a word and then said the word.

When a pianist was featured on Sesame Street, Pumpkin hopped up on the piano bench and began pounding out music and has continued this for each day since. At one point, she grabbed her big Jie-Jie Bear (a stuffed bear from her step-sister) and had him play along with her. When he didn't, she shoved him to the floor!! A little George H.W. Bush, you're with me or against me, I guess!!

Pumpkin also has begun to play dress up. About two weeks ago she started getting into my jewelry armoire and putting on my necklaces and last night at Nana's she put on her clothes and then would model in front of the mirror. She followed this behavior with make-up time that involved putting lotion on her hands. To me, these behaviors are early for a 20-month-old, but who knows.

Her vocabulary now includes door, flower, airplane, bird, duck, tractor, bubble, octpuss (for octopus), cracker, juice, car, wahmel (for watermelon), pretzel, dance, Elmo, Abby, Big Bird and more that I can't think of at the moment. She will tell you "more" when eating if she empties out a particular food on her plate. She will also tell you "no" if she doesn't want to eat something. The other day when I sneezed, she quickly said, "bless you."

Can you tell I'm a doting Mother? Really, I could go on all night! I had thought that she'd be in Elementary School before I had to call in tutors, but it would appear that I may have to get a retainer in place for pre-school!