Hello, bye bye

In my last post about Madeline's favorite words, I neglected to mention some of her most common - "hi" and "bye bye." A perfect illustration of her mastery of these words occurred at Target this week. It was a weekday, so the store was relatively empty. We were walking down a main aisle - Lacey and I were browsing slowly as Madeline toddled behind - when a stranger approached. As the woman drew nearer (she wasn't coming for us, just passing on her way to whatever she might be shopping for) Madeline gave her a cheerful wave. The woman was delighted and stopped for a minute to exchange pleasantries. Then, as she left, Madeline again waved heartily and issued an adorable "bye-bye."

In this case, the woman was still near for the "bye bye," but often Madeline doesn't say it until the other person is well out of earshot. I want to tell people that she really does wave and say "bye bye," but they usually just smile and say "Sure she can." But, without fail, Madeline offers a series of enthusiastic "bye bye's" as soon as they leave.

And sometimes when Lacey leaves for work in the morning Madeline will stand by the front window and sob "bye bye" or even "bye bye ma ma" as Lacey walks toward her car. (Fortunately she seems to like being with daddy, too, so these episodes don't last too long).

"Hi" is a more recent addition. She often responds with a happy wave when I say "hi," But recently she's been offering her own chirpy "hi" in return.