I am going to take a break from Cervex-Watch ’06 (Yes, I am still pregnant and no, there are no real updates at this point) to say a little bit about Stella.

We seem to have gotten over the hump in terms of visitors creating chaos in our schedule and routine, and Stella really has shown such amazingly sweet and charming behavior lately that I am almost without words as to what to make of it. I feel that my actual acknowledgement of these observations will immediately jinx it and by the time I finish my next sentence she will be back to melting down at the mere whiff of the word NO.

While this lasts, however, I need to record it forever so that I won’t forget this feeling of utter adoration that has manifested in regards to my first-born.

Aside from the fact that we have not stood witness to the regular spate of irrational physical and emotional breakdowns, she has also bridged some sort of invisible vocabulary chasm. Don’t get me wrong, she still uses the word My in place of I (which I haven’t done much to deter because really, it is pretty darn cute), but overall, her ability to put complex ideas together in words could put some West Virginians to shame (sorry, Brian).

First, there is the thanks-I’ll-be-here-all-week-don’t-forget-to-tip-your-waitresses joke telling she has been working on. Her medium of choice is the knock-knock joke. She has her own way of administering the joke, wherein we actually have to provide the punch line. She will prompt us with both the “Knock, knock” AND the “Who’s There” portion, then we have to come up with something clever to make her laugh. We have scoured the Internet in search of every compilation of knock-knock jokes that we can find, and tried to commit as many of them to memory as possible. The upside to her method is that you can say something completely nonsensical and she will laugh all the same. But, being the good parents we are, we really want her to be able to be all she can be, and are trying to provide her with some quality material. Who knows? We may have a female George Carlin on our hands here.

Aside from her efforts at slaying us with her wicked humor, she has been regaling us with songs and stories and making genuine efforts to participate in our conversations. When we are rude enough to have a conversation without including her she will loudly (but also strangely politely) interrupt us to ask, “What you guys talking about?” Sometimes we take the time to get her up to speed, other times we just give her the highly abridged version – either way, she is just happy to be included. It is such a shocking reminder as to what a real person she is becoming. It is so easy to just assume she is oblivious to what is going on outside her little toddler world. And once again we are faced with the reality that it is time to be careful to censor our actions and our words, as we are now living with someone who will repeat things we have said at dangerously inappropriate times.

More than anything, I find it comforting that as we enter what is bound to be one of the more traumatic transitions in her life, we are beginning things on a high note. She is about as prepared as she is going to get in regards to having a new sister or brother on the way, and I can only be optimistic that she will handle it with all of the grace and goofiness that is Stella.