A Little Thora Milestone

A little thing happened today that I want to share.

*(Before I start, I want to remind you of a sound that Thora makes. It's the sound she makes for "tweet." Her tongue goes to the roof of her mouth, as if she's about to say "king" but she doesn't take the tongue off of the roof of her mouth, so it comes out "kng" way in the back of her throat.)

So...

On the way out of the grocery store this morning, one of the cashiers gave Thora two bright orange stickers. Thora wanted me to have one and so on the walk out to the car, we each had one on our coat sleeves. Then, upon loading Thora into the car, I offered it back to her, so she had two again. While I was concentrating on getting out of store's parking lot (insanely crowded even for a Wednesday mid-morning) I hear Thora talking, saying what sounds like "Mon kng... mon kng." I'm focusing on getting out of the spot and maneuvering around some other cars, when it dawns on me: She also uses the "kng" sound to say "two." She was counting!!! She was saying "one two... one two..." counting the two stickers that were on each coat sleeve.

Like I said, this is a little thing, but in the lifespan and development of Thora, this is a big step. I've been trying to teach her to count to 5 by playing this *exhausting* game where she says the
number and I throw her up in the air that many times. (1=1 throw, 2=2 throws, etc.) She's pushing 35 lbs., so you can imagine why I'm only trying to teach her to count to five this way! Anyway, she really loves this game and is always asking/commanding me, "Up Down! Fee [three]!" or "Up Down! Figh [five]!" She knows that she only gets this game once a day but she doesn't let a day go by without playing it. However, despite her love for this game and her connection that this is a game of counting, it's still kind of a chore to get her to say the numbers. She gets that "one" comes first. But then after that, it's kind of random. Often "three" comes after "one". Occasionally, she'll refuse to say a number and merely command, "Up!" Sometimes, she'll even throw a "nine" in there.

So with that as our baseline, to see her count to two today, totally unprompted, was pretty awesome to behold. Through misty eyes, I asked her, "Are you counting? One Two?" and she said "Yeah," and then a few minutes later did it again, and again it was unprompted. I applauded and congratulated her, as much as I could while keeping us on the road. Of course I called Sean and told him right away. And he was ever the proud father. It's moments like these that make me feel truly blessed that I am such an constant spectator to Thora growing up. There are many moments when I would trade places with my working (over-worked) spouse in a heartbeat. Many moments when the struggles and frustrations of interacting with such an impatient and demanding person seem to be the price I must pay for not having a career. I know it's fucked-up logic, but at times it does feel like I'm being punished for not being an "earner." But those are the thoughts generated in those moments of breaking spirits and battling wills, when surely my view of the big picture are not in focus. But today, watching her count for the first time, was a "big picture" moment. She's napping, things are calm, and my soul feels like a massive inflated balloon: big and high and boundless.