Baby in bath.
Baby bored.
Baby point at window ledge.
Baby point at small rubber ducky on ledge?
Small rubber ducky jumps into bath.

Baby point harder.
Baby point at large rubber ducky on ledge?
Large rubber ducky jumps into bath.

Baby point harder.
Baby point at small boat?
Small boat slides into bath.

Baby point harder.
Oh, baby pointing at large boat?
Large boat slides into bath.
And all large boat's accessories?
All large boat's accessories splash into bath.

Bath full.
Baby not bored.

For a couple of weeks Bridget has been shaking her head when she doesn't want things, most often the last spoonfuls of her meals. It doesn't always mean 'No' - she seems to quite like shaking it for the fun of it - but generally she uses this means to express unwillingness or disapproval. Less clear has been any means of saying 'Yes'. She will often reply to an obvious question like 'Would you like to go for a walk, Bridget?' with a 'Da' or 'Ja' or equivalent (does she think she's Russian or German?). But at the weekend there was no mistaking the 'Yes' that followed 'Would you like some breakfast?' We've had a couple more repetitions, so it does appear that she has a new word, and one that her stupid parents can actually understand.

Bridget, as we blogged at the time, learned to climb the stairs about four weeks ago. Since then, she has shown surprisingly little interest in plunging over the top step on her way downwards, much to my relief. However, on Monday she had obviously decided that she was bored of only ever going upwards and wanted to make her way back to the ground floor (and toys) - headfirst. I quickly came to her rescue and turned her round, then showed her that she needed to put her feet down a step first and then her hands. I repeated the movement of hands and feet for a couple of steps but after that she adamantly refused to have any further help from Mummy and climbed down the rest of the stairs herself. I was amazed at how quickly she had understood and picked up the technique. Yesterday she repeated the feat, after one stair of initial help. She also spent a happy five minutes or so going up a couple of stairs and then back down them, up three and back down two, and so on, until she eventually settled on climbing to the top.

Alas, she has yet to realize the vital importance of the turning round first at the top of the stairs, so I still have to be vigilant to save a headlong plunge.