I was giving Paloma a bath last night, and one of our favorite things to do is put floating foam letters and numbers into the bathtub. Paloma refers to them collectively as “N”, for reasons neither Katie nor I understand. As I laid some numbers in the tub with her, we got to counting which she has been trying out lately. She is definitely starting to understand the sequence of numbers, although it seems she has a focus on two and three. These numbers usually end with her being tossed onto our bed or walking down stairs which certainly is cause for focus. From there odd numbers are her favorites (5, 7, 9). She was even belting out what I believe was the number 13 in the tub, but she would not repeat the performance for me with the camera. (see movie)

Paloma has recently gone through a name change. She is now calling herself “Pamoma” or “Kamoma”. If you get her when she is really excited, it might be “Pamomomoma”, as she was exclaiming to her reflection in the chrome bathtub spout last night. What’s more, she knows that it is her name. (see movie)

Finally, as I was taking video last night, Paloma pulled a subtle trick. It didn’t occur to me at the time, but now that I’m at the editing desk, I’m realizing – Paloma has learned how to be disingenuous to get what she wants! She always wants to check out the ‘wideo’ or ‘picker’ from the camera, but I wasn’t having any part of it as I was trying to take a movie of her. She decided to take a new tactic… “Hug!” she says to me. (see movie)

We here at the Shrolly’s have been documenting a lot of firsts for Paloma, but this one isn’t exactly in our baby book’s checklist. Nonetheless, I think it is another milestone for Paloma (and Driscoll!)

For those who have spent some time with Paloma and Driscoll, you probably know that for as much as Driscoll loves to hug, Paloma doesn’t like to be hugged (except by mommy and daddy, of course). But with kissing, they apparently have a common interest, much to the amusement of their parents.

Paloma’s been busy learning new words constantly, and she’ll repeat just about anything we say. But every once in a while she surprises us. In the past week, I’ve really been shocked at some of the things she has said. I was changing her diaper on Sunday, and I was counting something, I can’t remember what.

Daddy: one…
Paloma: two…
Daddy: three…
Paloma: four…

No kidding! I tried to get her to repeat the trick, but she won’t do that on demand, apparently.

Tonight, as I was putting Paloma to bed, we were saying “night-night!” to Katie and then, unprompted, Paloma says “bye bye! See you!” to Katie as we walked into the hall.

But the one that really blew me away was when we were playing foosball on Sunday. This was our first foosball tournament, and Paloma was not surprisingly beside herself with excitement. The balls were her favorite part, and when she realized that there were two, she wanted to have both of them in play at all times. At one point, after I had scored two goals, she calls out “both balls!” to me, out of the blue. I can’t recall ever saying the phrase “both balls” to her before, so it would seem to me that she is starting to put these concepts together. What a smart little gal we have! We are certainly very proud .

By the way, if you listen closely to the end of the video, right after I tell her “one ball”, she says “two balls”.