This happened while I was in the shower, this morning:

Matt got Penny dressed, then let her play upstairs for a while. She went into the guest bedroom (her favorite room, lately) and got Matt to put her up on the bed. She picked up the baby rat-creature toy (it's a comic-book thing) that's been her favorite toy in there for a while, now. And she threw it.

It bounced on the bed, then down into the crack between the bed and the wall. "Uh-oh!" Penny said.

"Uh-oh," Matt agreed. "All gone!"

Penny leaned over the edge of the bed to look. Indeed, the baby rat-creature had rolled under the bed and was, in fact, all gone.

But also down there was a little ladder - about 12 inches long, part of another toy. Penny reached for it and grunted until Matt fetched it for me.

Then followed the Traditional Naming: "Ish?" "Ladder." "Ish?" "Ladder." "Ish?" "Ladder." "Ish?" "Ladder ladder ladder ladd-" "Ish?" Sigh. "Ladder."

That goes on for a while. She played some more. Eventually, Matt said, "Let's go downstairs and put on some shoes."

Penny started for the door, then stopped, with a very adult expression of, "Oh, I just remembered - hold on a sec." She crawled back to the side of the bed, and very carefully and deliberately put the ladder away. Back in the crack between the bed and the wall.

It's a start, I guess.

--Liz