My little tyke is asleep and can I say how very impressed I am with his progress over the past few weeks? Whereas he was speaking words here and there before, now he really has conversations with me. One-to-two word conversations, but conversations nevertheless. He sees a toy train and picks it up excitedly saying “Nane! Nane!” and then he holds it up to a woman and demonstrates how to roll it back and forth, and then he scurries across the room to try out his trick somewhere else. And he has this amazingly cute hand gesture where he kind of flicks his hands in a ‘magical sort of way’ and says “Mah-met!” His word for Magic. I figure he gets that particular attraction from hsi father, who always loved magic as a kid. nOw we can easily impress and wow the little boy by hiding our wedding rings in a host of places, or doing silly tricks here and there. He gest so excited at the magic and tries to show us magic himself.
a/nd the ther was yesterday when he held up a round ring to his eyes and said, “Thah-sess” – his word for “glasses.” His imagination is suddenly brimming with ideas. He sees objects and, interacting with them, is able to relate them to other objects. So amazing how these associations can develop and the mind can interpret the meaning of shapes. How I love to witness his pointing “up!” to the ceiling when he suddenly yells out, “Mane!! Mane!!!” How much he loved the planes at the airport. He just couldn’t stop himself from rushing to the windows anytime he could to get a peek at one of the “manes!”
Can I go on? Mustn’t I? There is so much he is saying. With his attempts at copying us, he can now say “Marmoset” and “Platypus.” I also particularly enjoy his way of saying “Strawberries” (which he eats and eats and eats),” “Platypus,” “Spaghetti” – which are all slight variants on the word “Patata.” Strawberries is said with more urgency, as he really wants to eat the strawberries, wherease platypus and spaghetti are more playful words in his vocabulary. I am truly amazed at the level of interaction he displays.
He also wowed me last week when we were in Los Angeles and we asked him to give a hug to one of his baby friends, and he actually went up to his friend and gave her a little hug. He follows directions, knows what we are talking about, and while he used to gesture his face towards ours to “give a kiss,” now he has started to press his soft little face against your cheeks to give a kiss . . with me he kind of slobbers everywhere, but it’s the slobbery kisses from my baby that I find cutest. Funny how slobber from your own baby doesn’t gross you out. . . .
Ok it’s getting late, so it is time for me to attempt to clean a pot I pretty much destroyed in the kitchen today . . accidentally left the heat on very low after dinner. At least there was a little food in the pot, so the food got burned rather than my precious Le Creuset. I’m praying it’s all intact . . .