The New Adventures of Crazy Broccoli Head

As she creeps up on 16 months, Baby Fi continues to delight and amaze. Here are some recent highlights:

1) She has several new words, including "dju" (juice), "bawh" (ball), "booh" (book), "bahbah" (baby), "baaaah" (bath), and "vfhhh-vfhhh" (woof-woof). Anything that you drink is categorized as "dju".

2) She indicates "yes" with a single, emphatic nod of the head and a stern look.

3) Her new tactic for protecting herself from Madeline's "brutality" is to scream "OWWWWW!" as loudly as possible every time Maddie gets within a few feet of her. Most recently, she let out this preemptive wail when Madeline just said her name or looked at her. She also has perfected a vertical, karate-chop-like maneuver with her arm, and a quick kicking move, just in case Madeline is not warned off by her "Ow"raid siren. Sometimes she can be seen practicing the kick when Maddie is not even in the room.

4) When she is done eating, she begins precisely placing bits of food atop her head. They are so exactly positioned, that at first I thought Madeline was doing it. Daddo even came up with a song for this behavior: "Things I like I put on my head; things I don't like I throw on the floor."

5) She loves dogs, in theory. If one approaches her or even moves unexpectedly, she runs away in terror.

6) She runs away from us. If we try to scoop her up out of mischief or trouble, she will scurry away, looking back from time to time to make sure she is escaping us.

7) She invented a unique form of separation anxiety. She only freaks out if we are in the same house, and she can't get to us. Every other Friday night, we have home church at our house with four other families. We hire babysitters to keep the dozen or so kids in check, but Fiona will have none of it. She can be heard having a fit as soon as the hall door closes. However, if we hire a babysitter and leave the premises, she's fine.