Leaps and Bounds

As a follow up to the last post . . . lately it seems like Elijah learns a new word or something everyday. Today I asked if he wanted a cracker and he pointed inside his mouth and said "ah ah." When he was done he looked at me and did it again, meaning, I guess, "More please." Amazing! Also today I was talking about his clothes and I said "shirt" and he grabbed his shirt and tugged at it while looking at me. Then I said "shoes" and he pointed first at one shoe and then the next. Genius!

Elijah and His Aboom

A few months ago I posted something about Elijah and his first words . . . I said he was saying "Mama" regularly and had started to say something all his own for "Kitty." I'm 98% sure I wasn't making that up, but then there were no new words and that word for kitty has pretty much disappeared (replaced by nothing, he mostly just points and screams at the poor Doctor). "Mama" didn't disappear but he still often said Mamamamamamamama. If you asked him "Where's Mama" he of course knew the answer, same with "Dada" and "Giraffe" and all that jazz, but now, as of about a week ago, it's like a light went off and he points at me and says "Mama" like a real word and like he really gets it. Also this week, he has started pointing at something else and saying the same thing over and over. It's a balloon we got at a party a few weeks ago and he looks at it and says, everytime, "Aboom." A new word? A coincidence? I have no idea. Like teeth coming in, this whole language acquisition stuff is exciting and sometime frustrating and mostly really unbelievable slow. Although, as I type that, I'm reminded of how really it's just slow to us. To Elijah, the world must be so overwhelmingly new all the time. Everything's an adventure. In fact, I just this second heard Marty say to him: "You've got your mommy's panties on your foot, son. I don't think she wants them there." See? Pretty exciting stuff . . .

Monday Night at the Library

Stuff

Some stuff lately:

Elijah pouring the cat's water bowl over himself, totally fascinated.

I handed Elijah one of those plastic cups with the soft plastic layers around the top (to keep cheerio-type snacks inside while allowing tiny hands in) and he figured it out right away and was so into it that a minute later when I talked to him he jumped. I've never seen him quite so engrossed in anything before. He sat there eating puffs for about half an hour. Very pleased with it all.

He screeches in gleeful anticipation whenever he sees a dog out on a walk. Even if we're inside the house. If we're out walking, inevitably the dog walker and dog stop to say hello. E is very social. If you even say the word "hello" in conversation, he starts waving.

If you hum or beat-box or read a rhythmic story, he dances. If you snap or clap, he dances. You dance, he dances. Say dance, he dances. The other day we were walking around the house (me holding E in one arm and on my hip) listening to Feist or Cat Power and I was snapping with my free hand and pretty soon E started clicking his tongue as a way of joining in. It actually did sound a lot like my snapping.

He likes to feed mama. In his high-chair, he will occasionally hold out a pea or a puff or whatever for me to take with my mouth. He is also neat, in his way (not with books, which he pulls of every shelf he can reach, nor with clothes, which he loves to take out of drawers or baskets). He won't usually accept a spoonful of food until he has swallowed what is in his mouth. Also, with the cup mentioned above, if he spills a puff on the floor, he either eats it or puts it back in the cup.

His funny joke with dad: see dad and shake your head back and forth really fast until you're dizzy. Hilarious.

E turned one and surely never a cuter baby ever graced the age:

new glasses and toothbrush