Lucy's Games

The other night, Lucy woke up an hour after being put to bed. Ordinarily, we let her cry until she goes back to sleep. But on this night, Doc and I had recently returned from a five-day trip and left the girls with Grandma and Pop, so I went and got her. I brought her downstairs and changed her pants. Then I curled up on the sofa with her to comfort her and hoped that she would fall back to sleep.

She was very sedate yet wide-eyed. Usually, she and her sister are going full speed ahead all day and the only time they are still is when they are asleep. So, to have her still, in my arms and wide awake was quite a treat. We were laying on our sides face to face. She was looking right into my eyes and then she started the Nose Game. The Nose Game starts friendly enough. Lucy points to my nose, I say "honk" or "beep" and she giggles. This continues for a little while and then she gets this glint in her eye and she goes for broke. She ups the ante and tries to stick her finger in my nose instead of poking it on the end. Every time I brush her hand away, she giggles and tries again. I don't think I can describe what an odd and discomforting feeling it is to have a 16-month old's index finger expertly inserted up my nose. It's creepy. Not to mention the fact that her little fingers at present have sharp little baby fingernails that can do real damage to soft tissue. It doesn't help to say no and display whatever expression conveys me at my most squicked out, this just makes her laugh harder.

Another game she plays is also an exercise in dexterity. We have this little Sesame Street music toy. It looks like a mini boom box and has a spot to insert cartridges that each contain one song. Well, our little Lucy is not interested in the music. She likes putting the cartridges in. We spend at least a half an hour together with this game. She picks up one of the cartridges, all of which are dangling from a lanyard connected to the mini boom box, lines it up, and puts it in. Then it is my job to remove the cartridge, otherwise, she will try to put another cartidge in while the earlier one is still in place.

Her newest game is "Night, Night; Good Morning." With both of the girls I played this game. I would say "night night" and lay my head down and snore in the manner of Olive Oyle. After a few noisy inhales and exhales, I would lift my head and say "Good morning!" always to the delight of the toddler or infant at hand. Eventually, though she wants to try it herself and yesterday, Lucy did just that. She can now say "night, night." It's so cute when she is pretending to be asleep. Sigh. She also prompts me to play the game by covering me with a blanket and saying "night, night."

Then there is the old standard, "Peek-a-boo". When Riley first started playing this game, she would hide under the covers for a very long time. Ever the performer, Riley would wait until we said "Where's Riley?" 5 or 6 times before she would pop out and exclaim, "Peek-a-boo!" Lucy? She's a traditionalist. We ask once and she delivers.

It is so nice to have two ambling little girls who express themselves so well. I am so pleased to have them communicate with me. Very soon they will both be out of diapers (Riley is and Lucy will be soon, I hope) and off to school. Then I can breath a sigh of relief. Yeah right.