signs! and a tooth!

quickly, because she's impatient today...

hazel signs! i can hardly believe it, already. we noticed some pronounced mimicking about two weeks ago, so we started signing a few signs to her (bird, dog, milk, fan, light... all the important things :), but hadn't really yet gotten into the habit of doing it consistently.

on tuesday night, when i was in and out of sleep due to a 102 fever, i saw her watch the dog jump off the couch, then stick tongue in and out, then look at me for understanding. i responded, then she did it again and looked at the dog. wow... but i'm borderline delirious, did that really happen? despite my state, she was absolutely clear.

so two days later, after just having arrived in ND for christmas, as she was lying in my lap i noticed her eyes had locked onto something. she stuck her arm up and swiveled her wrist around, and sure enough, i looked up to see we were right below the fan. since then, she's repeatedly signed for dog, fan, and now light, too. (of course, milk is the one i really want her to learn so i know when she's hungry, but in order for her to learn that, i actually have to remember to show her the sign as we're nursing... i keep forgetting.) anyway, i'm sort of in disbelief that she's already old enough to be signing, and half-crawling, and clapping... time is flying by.

she's so cute, she claps (in this funny splayed-finger tapping sort of way) to inspire interaction. she claps, we can't help but clap back, and on it goes, and she gets the biggest grin when we "get" her clapping or signing. i'm sure she's thinking "finally! you people finally understand what i've been trying to tell you..."

due to a canceled flight, we killed 8 hrs at minneapolis airport on thursday (gotta love that playscape across from gate C12! the tram and moving sidewalks are also very popular). while eating a snack with eva and allowing sleepless papa to rest a bit, i noticed... hazel has a tooth! the lower left tooth was just *barely* poking through, and already now two days later it's much more pronounced. and, she already bit me (in her sleep, so it surprised both of us).

today it is -13 degrees F (-39 with wind chill... and that's not the low, that's just the mid-afternoon temp). eva spent the morning making a gingerbread house, and had a grand old time, and got the hang of piping the icing herself. christmas prep continues, as everyone works on projects in assorted groups whenever the recipient is out of view (though, not much of that has really happened yet... difficult when no one can leave the house.) larry contemplated driving to bismarck to get the supplies santa will need to make eva's gift (i think santa needs some help sometimes, right? the elves must get exhausted) but was deterred by the crazy wind chill. i mean, not that he's any stranger to this.. the first time he ever visited me here (my first year of college) it was -60 and we finally left the house to walk 5 blocks to my friend's house... only our eyes were showing, but i was still pretty sure we were going to die before we made it back home. luckily, we made it, and lived on to produce two pretty entertaining and cute kids. good thing.