For now a lot of his words are attempted after we say something to him. He will choose a word from our sentence and say it back to us. Other times we will be looking at a book or participating in an activity and ask him if he can say a particular word. When he attempts he is usually able to get at least the beginning consonant sound. It's so fun to see what words he will choose to attempt and which ones don't interest him at all.
Of course Samuel is still doing plenty of babbling too. He will walk around the house babbling up a storm to no one in particular. Maybe he is talking to an imaginary friend or the cats. We have no idea. Sometimes he will come over to us babbling an entire sentence with such force and persistance that we are sure he must be trying to have a brilliant, intellectual converstation. Or, he is just asking us for more water. Something important, that's for sure!
Here are some of his other exciting, new developments:
- He gets very jealous when Daddy and I snuggle. He pushes Allen's hands off or away and will cry.
- As if changing a squiggly baby's diaper wasn't challenging enough, now he knows how to take off his diaper. He also likes to reach down to try to pull the dirty diaper away and will hold the new diaper over his penis.
- He is becoming a pro at going down the stairs. I barely need to watch him now since he holds on to banister rails and asks (gestures) to hold our hand when going downstairs.
- He will tighten his thighs around my waist and keep trying to find my waist with his legs if I start to put him down before he's ready.
- His chubby legs are getting thinner from running and walking so much.
- Allen and I have been going downstairs to spend time together after he falls asleep. He will usually sleep soundly for a couple hours and then wake periodically. He sleeps better when the room is very dark and quiet so we found we were waking him up more when stayed in bed to watch T.V. or read.
- Danger Boy tries to take the plug out of the outlet and put it back in. He also unplugs cords from the computer and fits them back in their spots.
- He still loves to be held and carried but will start to fidget if he sees something he wants to investigate.
- He learned to sign: bath, poop, apple and cold (although he doesn't use them often, usually just imitates).
- He likes to hold our hands when walking.
- He says "ya," "no," "nite nite," "cat," "car," "ice," bye bye," "grandpa (pa-pa)" and "ow" for a total of about 25 words and animal sounds.
- He runs with confidence and it takes effort to catch up to him sometimes!
- The best way to keep him occupied at restaurants is by feeding him pieces of ice. He will just keep signing for more! He also likes to color and drink water from a big cup with a straw.
- He learned to identify his teeth, tummy, ear, nose, head, eye and feet.
- He likes to "monkey up on mom and dad; where we lift him to our waist by pulling up on his arms and he either walks his legs up our body or lifts them parallel to the ground and wraps them around our waist.
- He will turn around and back up until he feels our lap and then plop down to look at things, play with toys, read books or just snuggle.
- His favorite snack is raisins.
- He likes to scratch and lick Velcro anywhere he finds it: shoes, touch and feel books, clothes and Mommy's hair rollers.
- He lets us steal mouth kisses but also learned to give kisses by putting his mouth up to ours. The first time he just came up to me and gently put his mouth on mine without even being prompted.
- He tries to put his shoes and socks on by himself. He is able to get the shoes over his toes but needs help with the heel. He also likes to take his shoes and socks off, especially in the car when we are on our way to go somewhere.
- Even when it is freezing cold outside he hates to wear his coat, hat and gloves. Every time I put them on him he fusses, cries and pulls until he gets them off.
- He is able to identify red, blue, green and yellow (when he feels like it).
- He points to and identifies many new words in his picture books. The first time he found "cheese" he was so proud. He stared very intently at the page for a while then started pointing with absolute certainty!
- One of my favorite Mommy moments is watching him cuddled up in the crook of my arm looking up at me while he nurses. Also, when he starts heading towards me I crouch down with my arms open wide, then a big smile spreads across his face as he comes running into them.
- He stomps his feet when frustrated but also while dancing.
- He loves to be chased and giggles and looks back the whole time.
- He is able to look through a book by himself to find something. You can hand him a closed book and ask him to find the page with a specific activity or thing. For example he can find the page where the dogs are nite-nite in "Go Dog Go."
- He picks his nose.
- He usually cries like he will never see me again if I leave to go somewhere even though I very rarely go anywhere without him and he is almost always staying with Daddy. It's better when he is staying with someone who also has a small child. He gets very interested in playing with toys or with his friend and we are able to sneak out unnoticed.
- He likes to drink from a plastic water bottle but loves screwing the cap on and off even more.
