Woah!

That's one of Hallie's new words. Last night, we were coming back from an impromptu visit to the Intensive Care Nursery (sorry, Ellen! We'll try to stop by another night you are on!), where Hallie had the time of her life. At first she seemed a bit apprehensive, but really began to enjoy herself when we sprung her from the stroller and let her run around a bit. She was amazingly good at staying in the halls (as opposed to running into the nurseries and turning off the alarms and such and eating the charts...now that she knows how to push 'play' on the DVD player, who knows what havoc she might wreak). Hallie especially liked looking at the 'honor roll' pictures of babies who are ICN alums. And Carol, one of the really fun night charge nurses, was wowed by that Hallie was able to pick out the sole dog in the pictures when she asked Hallie "where's the doggie?" The nurses were all quite impressed with Hallie's advanced running skills (and that she did not slam right into the door after coming repeatedly to some really sharp stops), her signing capacity (we fear that we are turning American Sign Language into some sort of parlor trick for Hallie, but Hallie loves to watch signing and to sign...she has even begun to sign letters and words as she is in the process of falling asleep at night). And we were very happy to have Hallie there in all of her toddler glory because we know that it's not that often that the nurses get to see what a great job they've done... The entire staff of the ICN is truly amazing and we are glad that they are a part of our lives.

It was also very nice to see that the census was way down last night; so down, in fact, that an entire nursery (the one in which the girls were right after they were born) was entirely empty. I know from my micropreemie blog mom group that the number of parents having micros is always getting bigger and bigger but it's nice to see that Pennsylvania Hospital's NICU is fairly less crowded right now than typical. We hope that it stays that way and that all the babies in the unit are doing well.

Back to Hallie's words: we got home and I brought Hallie and the stroller into the house while Sharon went to put away her scooter. The stroller we're using right now, a Maclaren Triumph, is quite light. This is a nice feature usually, but the stroller has a tendency to tip over when devoid of Hallie and when weighted down with bags (which it is, typically). So, right after releasing Hallie from the buckles, the stroller tipped over and I said "Woah!"

Hallie immediately replied "Woah" (sounds a bit like "Row!") at which point I cheered, so she kept saying it. Then, after Sharon came into the house, I told her what Hallie had said, and Hallie went over to the stroller, which I had picked up, tipped it over, and went "woah!" She kept on using "woah" all night long and today as well, so we are hopeful that this word is with us for the long haul.

Hallie is also now saying "chee" (for "cheese") and smiling for the camera, and is beginning to identify some more animals by name. She knows what sheep look like and calls them "shee" and, the other day, when I was reading one of her favorite books, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?", Hallie not only correctly pointed to each animal when I said its name, but, when I got to the page that has a yellow duck on it, Hallie said "lello dock" (I know I mentioned this in my previous post, but wanted to elaborate). We are thrilled beyond belief, and Hallie is awfully proud of herself, too (as well she should be). So, if, as is likely, Hallie decides to rip apart her Brown Bear board book, you can bet I'll be replacing it post haste.

Speaking of proud, we're also proud that Hallie just had another 2 vomit free days in a row. That makes 38 so far this year! Feels like some of a record!

No cute pictures, alas, to upload tonight but I hope to take some on Friday when I am home with Hallie all day.