Thursday 7 August 2008

Mister Independent

This is what happens when a 15 month old becomes aware of clothes and choices:



Adorable, right?

He started off the day in blue jeans, a t-shirt, socks, and shoes. Then he found the bag of new clothes I'd bought for him the day before (a pair of pajamas and a zippered sweatshirt) and decided the race car pajama pants were to his liking. He walked over to his dad, arm outstretched.

"Eh! Eh! Eh!! EH! EH! EHHHH!!"

Ah. The "eh" stage. The "I want something very specific but don't have the vocabulary to tell you what it is" stage. The "hey, why did Mommy just lock herself in the bathroom without me??" stage.

Because the eh's are driving me a tiny bit crazy, Little One. That's why.

Anyway. Kind daddy put the very cool race car pajama pants on the little guy. And then, of course, the shoes had to go right back on, because not wearing our new big boy shoes at all times is simply not acceptable. A little while later, I was caught hanging up his new sweatshirt in his closet - a quick round of eh's later, the sweatshirt was on him instead of the hanger, thus completing the above ever-so-coordinated outfit.

Honestly. The outfits he's come up with this week. Today it was the still-loved race car pajama pants with a pair of swim shorts over top. Now there's a look that's sure to become popular.

His awareness and memory have shot through the roof this past week or so. Now he wants things, specific things, things that are in another room or up high on a shelf or put away somewhere. Unfortunately his vocabularly has yet to catch up with this increased awareness - thus the aforementioned rounds of "eh ehh EHHH!" going on around here lately, coupled with much pointing and dramatic facial expressions.

And so we've redoubled our work on signs - which has, admittingly, been sorely inconsistent in the past. We have the sign for milk down pat, and we've worked half-heartedly on "food", "drink", "more", and "done", but now he really needs them (as does my sanity). Yesterday we learned the sign for book, as probably half the eh's around here are in reference to wanting a book read. I *love* that he loves books, but oh. my. goodness. The constant books, all day long.

Mr Brown can moo...can you?

His current favourite book is Baby Cakes, a really cute interactive book where you kiss your baby's nose and nibble his toes and laugh and sing and so on. This is the first book that he's "memorized" - he knows what comes next and starts doing it before you even turn the page to read it. It's so neat.

Bouncy bounce Baby Cakes on my lap...YAY for little Baby Cakes, clap clap clap!

Hmm...he's currently laying on the floor snuggling with a pair of my soft pajama pants.

Never a dull moment, eh?

7 comments:

  1. After a class at the School of Metaphysics talked about the importance of Choice as part of kids' development, I started trying to let Raiden choose his own clothes. He doesn't care. He would rather not wear anything. Except shoes. Anyone's shoes.

    I have the same problem with choice when it comes to food. I offer him a jar of green beans or a jar of spaghetti, and he grabs both and bangs them together. *laugh*

    Raiden has recently learned the sign for "ball" and even says the word now, which I'm thrilled about - but his "ball" is the equivalent of your "book." I'm kind of done with balls. Let's play with the Wiimote or something.

    Also your "eh!" is our "dat!" That's when I lock myself in the bathroom, lol.

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  2. He's so CUTE! I love his hair! It's been so neat to hear how he has developed since an infant. I'm grateful to have you in my life.

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  3. He's so stinkin' adorable!! I love his ensemble. ;)

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  4. :-) Ah yes the 'eh' stage. It's so cute to watch them try so hard to tell you what they want, but frustrating too because you can't always understand them.

    His love for books reminds me of my goddaughter. She LOVES books more than anything in the world. I can't wait to help her learn to read.

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  5. Cynth!! He's so stinkin' adorable! I can't believe how tall he's getting (at least that's what it looks like with my limited view, haha) and he is SO going to be a heartbreaker - he already is! ;)

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  6. He's such a cutie pie. I love when they get to the stage that they want to dress themselves.

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  7. I'm impressed that he's already dressing himself! (As crazy as his choices may be, LOL.) About the only thing Hannah chooses to wear is her dirty clothing on her head or around her neck like a cape, and she'll stick her foot in mommy or daddy's big shoes. ;)

    haha @ Mr. Brown. That was Hannah's favorite book for a long while. I think her favorite now is The Foot Book.

    Have you ever heard of the program "Your Baby Can Read"? Hannah's been on it for 2-3 weeks now. She is already recognizing some words by sight and immediately learned several actions, like "arms up," "arms down," and pointing to her mouth and nose.

    When I lock myself in the bathroom, a broken record begins to play a pitiful tune of "Mummy?...mummy?...mummy?!"

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