Ahh-volution

I know that the "miracle of birth" and all that inspires no end of religious hoo-ha, and maybe someday that'll make sense to me. (Though, in counterpoint: South Dakota.) Right now, I am much more awed by the myriad ways in which Julia's development exhibits so many features of evolutionary processes in action.

Tonight's exhibit was the sudden and (relatively) clear recitation of long chunks of her favorite bedtime book. Admittedly, she engages in a bit of bowdlerization, owing to her 21.5-month old brain. For instance, "Every day, everywhere, babies are crawling forward and backward, on bottoms and knees, upstairs and downstairs, wherever they please" becomes, in her slow and pained retelling, "Evy day evy where baby cawlink forert backert bawtum sneez upshtair downshtair pleez!"

But still. Her brain and her mouth have in combination helped her start to engage in the telling and adaptation of stories, binding us together around this common material. Sure, it's not the Odyssey, but it's close enough for now. I'm amazed and impressed.