Just call me YiYi.

Yesterday Sophie came to visit. Well, Holly and Grandma were with her, too, but it was Sophie I heard coming up the sidewalk. She was walking behind her pushtoy, something that looked a little like this:

As she rumbled up the sidewalk, I opened the door. Holly said, "She was so excited when she realized we were coming over here. And you have a new name. Yi Yi!" (Pronounced yee-yee, but that takes longer to write.)

Yi Yi! I've always wondered what kids would call me. Lydia is a hard name to say for kids. "L" is impossible, and three syllables can be a lot to ask. I thought maybe Wydia, but then it would degrade down to WeeWee when kids are just learning to talk. Yi Yi was an improvement I had not imagined. I was sorry that I missed hearing Sophie say it!

As the family was leaving, Sophie, leaning on her toy, looked at me with bright eyes and yelled out, "BYE!!" It was the first time I'd heard her say something with such intent; usually "bye" was just a mumbled response to our prodding, or an echo of our attempts to teach her. This was a sure, "Goodbye, we'll play tomorrow!" adios. That girl knew what she was saying, and her voice was so clear and cute! I responded with an elated, "Bye Sophie!" to which she again said, "Bye!!" This went on for a few times until Holly broke it up, coaxing Sophie to barrel back down the sidewalk on the handlebar of her push toy.

I bought her some markers and construction paper. She's coming over this afternoon, and I can't wait to play! Sophie's always been a fun baby, and now that she's one year old, it's even more fun to watch the daily developments: understanding the relationship of keys to doors and shoes to feet, seeing her brush a teddy bear's fur and finding pens and paper from all over the house so she can draw (hence the new markers and paper).

And I'm Yi Yi. Not too far off I'll be Aunt Yi Yi to another bundle of joy (though I'll have to wait a long time for him/her to say it). I think that's just about made my week.