A diary of 3 -- explosion.

Seth likes to complain that Boogaloo makes all her advancements while he's out to sea. The sad thing is that he has a point. When he's gone, Annika just seems to grow by leaps and bounds. For instance, I've been worrying about her speech development. Up until he left, she was saying plenty, but most of it was quotations from her favorite movies. It had no context, and it had very little articulation. Since he left, I've been hearing words and near sentences that relate to the world at hand: okay, I do it, box, ear, feet, hungry, thirsty. I'm thrilled. I can communicate with my child. But I poured out all my worries on Seth, and now he's not here to share in my congratulations.

Also, her interests are broadening. Up until he left, she was playing primarily with dolls and water toys. Her favorite activity was to "row" "around the house" in a laundry basket boat quoting The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Just in this past week (and today is Wednesday), she's developed an interest in puzzles, blocks, and Mr. Potato Head. She suddenly started pulling toys out of her long-neglected toy box and playing with them. Go figure.

These are gross over generalizations, of course. The week before he left she was astounding us by naming colors, a subject we thought she was ignoring for the past year. And many's the time he and I have stood and gaped together over whatever that was and wherever it came from. But I don't think I'm imagining it. Suddenly she knows where things go and understands why I do things. She puts her own hamper away and picks up the blocks at bedtime. We've been working on this for months, and it all comes out now. I have several explanations for this uncanny behavioral pattern. Some are probably. Some are not. Maybe I just have more attention to devote to observing her development when he's gone. She is the biggest focus of my time and energy right now. Maybe I have more attention to devote to her, period. Maybe the stress of separation brings out the best in her. She could be sensing the rise in the level of my anxieties and trying to soothe some of them by revealing her hitherto hidden accomplishments. (Don't laugh. She would do that.) Or maybe his Navy schedule just coincides that perfectly with her stages of development. In any case, I am once again in awe of my wunderkind. What a kiddo! What a blessing.