Picture 50

Mazzy says one word— "Hi". She's actually been saying it since about five months old but we weren't sure if she knew what it meant. Now she has attached it to a wave and uses it to greet every passing stranger on the street, so clearly, she knows what's up. If anybody else in New York City were to be so indiscriminately friendly, you would think they were at best a lunatic and at worst from out of town, and thus straight up ignore them either way. But even the most hardened New Yorkers cannot resist Mazzy's charms. Subway commuters, store patrons, the entire line of people waiting for Cereal Milk soft serve at Momofuku Milk Bar— they're all putty to my baby girl's friendly greeting.

The only person I have found thus far to remain unimpressed by Mazzy's super amicable attitude is Russell Simmons who chose not to acknowlede her repeated attempts at communication and instead focus his attention on the more important task at hand: purchasing juice. It's ok, Russell Simmons, Mazzy has more than her share of admirers who are happy to exchange niceties with her. She doesn't need your "hi". (Your girlfriend/wife, however, was very nice and she can play with Mazzy any time).

In public, Mazzy will stick to the use of "hi" as a traditional greeting, but at home she has found some more creative uses. For instance, if your attention is focused elsewhere, like at your laptop (who me?), she will crawl up your leg, arch her back so you can't miss her little face and yell "Hi! Hi! Hi!" as a method of pure manipulation. She has also mastered it's use as a stalling tactic. For example, when you are trying to put her to bed, she will say it to engage you, alert you to the fact that she'd like to hang out more, and finally to make you feel guilty for putting her in her crib. She'll also say it in a gruff tone when you come to take her out of the crib in the morning as if to say, "You should have been here sooner". And most disturbingly, she'll say it in the middle of breast feeding. When someone sucks on your boob and then takes a break for small talk, it feels a lot less like parenting and a lot more like dating. I'm of the opinion that if breast feeding involves polite dinner conversation then it's probably time to think about weening.

Here are twenty of the cutest seconds you'll ever see in your life.

"Hi!" from Ilana Rosengarten on Vimeo.

I wish at the end of the video I had a clip of Mazzy saying, "Fuck you, Russell Simmons." But we're still working on it.