Five Recent Julian Milestones:

1. Learning to say "Ree! Ree!" when she wants you do read a book. If there's any doubt which book, look for the one she's hoisted over her head and it about to drop onto your lap like a few ounces of bricks.

2. Learning to say "Bee!" for "please." This is a major event in socialization, and - funny smells from the diaper notwithstanding - her first step toward becoming a full participant in etiquette. So far, saying "bee" is mostly done at the dinner table.

3. Using "bee" as part of a more-or-less real sentence. She often says, "Mo, bee!" ("More, please!") And this afternoon, she even said, "Mo, bee, bas," - "More, please, pasta!" This means she's now more verbally adept than the average wingnut talk-radio caller.

4. Using and abusing "bee." A final element of the "bee" phenomenon is that she's already using it in several ways: sincerely (when she's just finished one handful of food and is ready for "mo"), desperately (when she's asked a couple times already), proudly (when she says is automatically, without even really thinking of it), and - my favorite - sarcastically (Julia: "Mo!" Mom or Dad: "More what, honey?" Julia: "Mo, beeeeeeeeeeeeee!" [smiling maniacally])

5. Taking a digger. On the way out the back door on Saturday, my hand slipped and she fell head-first off the top step onto the second step. I caught her by one ankle before she went any further, but she has a bruise on her forehead and a really bad scrape on the bridge of her nose. She only cried for a few minutes, though her abject wailing was punctuated by saying, "Unny!" - "Honey!" - to us, over and over. It must not hurt too much now, because she only notices it on those (frequent) occasions when she's admiring herself in the mirror.