I know it's not a photo or a video which is what all of Celeste's adoring fans really want. But it's too important to go unmentioned for much longer. Watching the mind of a child develop is absolutely amazing. The other day, nearly right before my eyes, I watched her figure out how the word "and" works. For instance, she'll be looking at the cover of one of her books that features a cartoon drawing of a cat, a dog, and a frog. We've always played the "what's that?" game and would go over each of the animals. Eventually, she didn't require prompting and would point at each one in succession and say their name or the sound that they make, depending on her mood. But now it's different. Now she says "DAH" (dog) "AN KITTY" (and kitty) "AN FRA" (and frog). It's the same for a family photo of Jess, Celeste and I taken many months ago: "MAMA AN DADA AN BAEBEEES". I tried to count the other day, counting words she's able to sign, she can say well over 80 things. [caption id="attachment_98" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Celeste and Archer"] [/caption] She's starting to make two word sentences as well. The most common ones I've heard are other words joined with "BYE BYE", "MUH" (more), and "PEES" (please). Such as "BYE BYE KITTY" and "MUH CRA-KUH" (more crackers) and "PEES BA BA" (please banana). Seemingly more amazing is that I can now talk to her like an adult and she understands nearly every word I say. I can ask her to do something complicated involving many words that I'm not even sure she knows, and yet she understands it. I'll be making dinner and I'll get several things out of the refrigerator with my arms full. She just follows me around back and forth. I'll ask her, "Celeste, can you close the refrigerator for me?" and she'll say "YA" and take care of it. I can't even begin to explain all of the combinations of words I've spoken to her expecting a blank stare and finding, instead, that she understood perfectly. This little girl never ceases to amaze me. Ok. Just so you're not completely disappointed at the lack of photos, I've included a photo of Celeste and her friend Archer (taken by Archer's mom) from a few weeks ago on a hike at a nearby State Park. She loves pine needles.