45. Hands!

While Beatrice has been waving "hello" and "goodbye" for some time now, over the past week she has really nailed communicating with her hands.

Her first trick was pointing. I recently saw a TV program on primate communication. Apparently, one way primates differ from humans is that they aren't able to read (or use) physical cues such as pointing, which makes working together more difficult. So Bea's new-found skill feels like a big leap.

Pointing was closely followed by her signing "all done" at the dinner table. (A pretty complicated sign involving wrist swivelling.) I have been really lazy with all of the sign language aside from "all done" so I feel I should renew my efforts, now that she is getting the hang of these things. (Grandpa Griff is the only person who has been really consistent with signing--using the "grandpa" sign whenever he first sees her.)

And her most recent trick, the one that seems to make her the happiest, is clapping. (Apologies for the sideways movie--Grandma Fox is a little too artsy with her filmmaking.)

Here she is earlier today, working on her balance: