Singing and empathy

I need a video.  I promise a video but every time it happens I just get caught up in the cuteness and forget to record.  but I promise, I will post a video....

...of what?  Of E "singing".  E has always loved music and has been doing what I think is singing for a while, where her babbling takes on a slightly rhythmic or tonal quality that could possibly be a song to a mother's ears...which song is as good your guess as mine but it could be a song.

But now it's real and its cute...and it's..."row, row, row your boat"  the version I learned from my friend Anne's blog about her son.  The lyrics are different from the regular song they are:

row, row row your boat

gently down the stream

if you see a crocodile

don't forget to scream

(and then you scream)

E loves it and thinks it's hilarious.  Daddy and I do hand motions to go along with the song and she's even started doing them.  She gets out the first "oh" of row and then look expectantly at us.  Once we start singing she'll sometimes sing along in her little squeaky baby voice.  And at the end of the song she'll give some sort of screaming noise.

At dinner she will insistently grab at our hands and if she manages to get them she will give her little grin and start off with her "oh, oh" while making rowing motions with her hands.  Over and over and over.  We've had to put a moratorium on "row, row" until dinner is finished but almost as soon as she's done she's asking for our fingers to row with. It is very cute.

She is also staring to show some empathy towards others, specifically her friends at daycare and her dollies.  At daycare one of her friends fell down and was crying and she went over and gave her a hug and some pats.  With her dollies i will make baby crying noises and she will find her doll, pick it up to her shoulder and pat it on the back or give it a hug.  We play a game with some toys where she "feeds" the dolls.  I wasn't sure if she was understanding the pretend aspect of the game until she shared her cracker with the doll and made "om, nom, nom" noises.  (got that one on video!)

I love that she's becoming aware of others and that she's showing empathy to them.  When Daddy or I ask for a hug many times E will say "no" (non-verbally) but if we "cry" after being told no she will come over and give the hug.  Or if we are laying on the ground and saying that we need a hug to feel better she will often come up and lay her head on our chests and splay her arms around us as best she can.  It's heart meltingly cute.