Broccoli and More

A couple of weeks ago I made broccoli for dinner and Kate started to try to say it. She's getting better at the word, but it still sounds more like 'braw-wi' than 'broccoli'. Still, we know what she means, and it's just cute to hear her say it. She loves the stuff, too. I'm not sure if she's using it as a butter/salt delivery device, but I'll take it. Braw-wi has now become one of her encompass-all words, meaning that she uses it for things she likes. Cookies, for example, are braw-wi. So is cheese.

One of Kate's favorites: Mom's Christmas chocolate chip cookies.

I've also started bribing my daughter to use her signs. She knows several, but refuses to use them. Except when she wants something very badly. Then, then I can get her to sign 'more', 'milk' (don't even get me started on what she thinks this sign is - I totally blame her Dad for the hand-waving that passes for milk), or 'eat'. We've been working on 'more' by using cookies. She only gets more when she uses the sign, and it's working! Isn't it great? I'm becoming one of those moms I swore I'd never be: letting my child have sugar, turning on the DVD player while I'm trying to make dinner (this still doesn't work; the kid has no interest in TV except to touch the buttons and hear me say 'no touch' repeatedly), and letting her play with my cell phone more and more, just to keep her from whining about it. I'm sure all of these things will backfire, but sometimes it's worth it to have some (temporary) quiet. Yesterday I think I let her do all of the aforementioned things. When Tim got home, she wanted to cuddle with him; I guess she's not feeling quite right, or maybe she just missed her Dad. It's so hard to tell.