Mail

Abby loves to get the mail. Since Daddy is home most days now, getting the mail has become a regular part of the day for them to do together. She also enjoys taking mail out to the box (we give her one piece to hold and she carefully hangs on to it the whole time), but getting the mail is her favorite. Daddy takes her over to the key rack where she grabs the mail key with the white key chain - she always grabs the right one! Then they walk outside to the mailbox where Abby hands Daddy the key to unlock the mailbox. He does so, grabs the mail and then hands the key back to her. They head back into the house and Abby puts the key back on the rack (with a little bit of help). At this point she sometimes gets upset that she is no longer in possession of the mail key, but she's learning. =)

Sometime last week, Abby and I were in the living room and Kevin was down the hallway in the study. I hollered down to him, "Hey, Kevin can you maybe take the mail out with Abby right now before the mailman comes?" As he mentioned some reply about doing it in a couple minutes, I noticed Abby all of a sudden take off crawling into the kitchen. I thought it kind of strange since she had been playing so contentedly with her toys. I watched her and saw it was obvious she was on a mission. Soon I realized what it was...she'd recognized the word "mail" when I'd said it to Kevin and was headed straight to the key rack where the mail key was. She pulled herself up against the wall and starting pointing to the key.

It never ceases to amaze me what Abby picks up on and how much she's listening to what we say even when we're not speaking directly to her. Such a smart little girl! =)