Scary How Much a Two-Year-Old Knows

So far, my time off from Baghdad has been great. I've been able to relax here at home with my wife, take care of some issues (dog @ the vet, car's oil change, etc). I've been able to visit North Shore, seeing friends and former students (who attack in packs not by themselves). I've taken in a lot of caffeine (Deidrich's and Starbucks) and watched quite a few new movies (Slumdog, The Burrowers, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Let the Right One In, Doubt). The big thunderstorms and flooding that's been going on have kept me inside too. I've also been able to enjoy my little girl and see how much she's learned and grown.



She's learned a lot of words and is pretty good at putting them together into phrases and small sentences. She'll say, "Good morning, everyone wake up!" when we go to her room in the morning. She knows almost the whole alphabet (we play with the letters in the tub) and lots of animals. She's also pretty intuitive...when I dropped her off at her daycare this morning (a lady we know watches her), she had a big fit. At first, when we pulled up into the driveway, she was saying, "Yay!" After we walked in, however, the clinging began.

She wouldn't let go of my leg saying, "No, OK" her version of 'no'. If I tried to explain to her that I had to go or tried to pry her from me to go she'd start jumping and crying. I bent down to talk to her and she wrapped herself around me, squeezing with her arms and legs in a little monkey vise grip.

We tried giving her a snack in the kitchen...with me in the living room waiting for her to go into the kitchen so I could leave. Loren stood right in between the kitchen and the living room, looking both ways...at the snack, then me to make sure I wasn't moving. I turned; she went nuts. I was finally able to leave and I could hear her outside screaming my name. She knows. She knows I'm leaving again and it's affecting her already. She's just two...