Samantha is becoming aware of colors and numbers. With a little prodding she can tell you whether an object is red or blue, and she's fascinated with the number two. I'm not sure she really gets other numbers yet, but she's definitely got "two" down. She'll hold out two fingers and shout "two!", or show you her shoes and say "two shoes." Her latest thing is to take a pacifier (which she calls a "gabba" -- don't ask why) in each hand and proclaim "two gabbas!" before gleefully stuffing them both in her mouth at the same time.

I wonder if it's normal for kids to start learning these things as early as 20 months, or if she's unusual. She certainly amazes me.

Sam loves her dogs. She gives them both hugs all the time, and not infrequent kisses, and this morning she was sitting on top of Ella like a pony. Ella, for her part, bore her rider with great patience.

She's still picking up random objects and handing them to you, saying "here you go" each time. And she finds the phrase "no thank you" simply hilarious when you decline to accept her half-chewed up food or the tidbits she offers from her high chair tray. A simple "no thank you, Samantha" is likely to be met with paroxysms of laughter.

Today's new phrases include "witch hat", in reference to a little tiny witch's hat that Amy bought for purposes of humiliating the dogs but which Samantha likes to pick up and put on her own head, and "spigot" for the sprinkler heads on the neighbor's lawn that we pass on our morning walks. Now honestly, how many 2 year olds do you know who say "spigot"?

Oh, and before I forget, we're also got "cookie", "Tucker", "some" (meaning "give me some of what you're eating, please"), "hand" (which means "please hold my hand while we walk"), "bed" (as in "I want to jump on the bed now") and "go walk". Her vocabulary is probably between 75 and 100 words now, and she can understand considerably more than that. Simply amazing ...