Knox just went to bed so I'll wait and let him tell you about the holidays. They were awesome! (especially for him!) In the meantime I am going to butt in on him and brag about his latest accomplishments. About a week before Christmas (a little before his 17th month day) something in his mind seemed to suddenly click and he started doing all kinds of new tricks. Before then he could point out a few animals in books and he would sign all done (sometimes). This is might be boring but at least I admit to the bragging and I need to get this all written down somewhere since it will most likely be a few weeks (at least) before I get out the baby book. Now for the great big list!
He pretty much only says 'car'. He seems to have gotten tired of saying 'cat' and although we thought a couple months ago he was saying 'dada' he wasn't. It was just the syllable of the week. He'll say 'dada' if we say it first. Sooooo, he pretty much only says 'car'. And occasionally he seems to say 'it's a car'. Technically a sentence, but he often picks up a car, says 'car' (I should video this) and we say 'yeah, it's a car'. Or 'it's a red (blue, green, purple) car'. So we know it's just a repeat of us. Anyway, EVERYTHING is a car. If something has wheels he is going to point it out to you and specify 'car'. Parking lots have become an adventure. He points and announces, 'car' to about every 3rd vehicle. He brushes off our attempts to point out the difference between cars and trucks as if we are the ones that don't know. If he doesn't know what something is then that must be a car too. Additionally he has an entire language of his own using consonants and vowels in no way associated with cars. I am sure there are words in there. He DEFINITELY knows what he is saying and thinks it means something coherent as there are inflections in his voice indicating statements and questions. There've been a few one time flukes(?) like on Christmas when he unwrapped a book with ducks on the front (he really likes ducks), pointed, and said 'du'. Christmas morning he also seemed to be saying slide, something like 'shly' standing atop the slide Santa brought him.
Sign language. I have been doing sign language with him since he was weeks old and finally (FINALLY!) it is starting to pay off. After months of only signing 'all done' then learning 'dog' and then pretty much stopping signing all together, we suddenly have a whole list of signs!
- all done
- dog
- more
- water
- milk
- eat
- thank you (which he started doing on Christmas opening gifts)
- please (he started this one the day after Christmas)
His 'water' and 'eat' are very similar so you pretty much have to have an idea of if he should be hungry or thirsty, but he usually helps by simultaneously screaming at a cup or pointing at crackers. And his 'please' and 'thank you' are prompted by someone saying "Say please (or thank you)" but it's a HUGE step. We are working on getting him to "say" please when he wants something. If he drops a toy he has to sign please for us to pick it up. Hopefully within a few weeks this will replace the whiny grunts that currently signal he wants something.
Body parts. He points to his nose, ears, mouth, head (if you ask for his head or ask where he puts a hat), feet (or foot), and belly.
He loves to give hugs to animals alive and stuffed. He does this on his own all the time chasing down the cats, pinning them to the ground and laying on top of them giving great big hugs. It is super cute and I am very grateful to the cats for giving in to his affection. He will also hug on command, but even then if you aren't me, furry, or fake a hug is a great honor. He also waves bye on command. Of course he seems to love playing dumb here and waving when people turn their backs to actually walk away. He does this especially to strangers. He will also wave bye if someone leaves and shuts the door or if prompted by someone else's wave.
Ask him how big he is and he throws up his arms.
(Sorry this is getting long)
Animals and things he always knows if you ask him to point in a book.
- Cat
- Dog
- Cow
- Fish
- Butterfly
- Frog
- Duck
- Bumblebee
- Car (of course)
- Flower
- Bird
- The sky (in real life not a book)
- The moon
I am sure there are others I can't think of off the top of my head and he is always amazing us by pointing to the random animal or object I try to stump him with. Recently at the aquarium his Gram bought him a big stuffed frog. It was in the middle of the floor when his Daddy came home and I told him to show Daddy his frog. It was right there and he was standing two feet from it kind of looking around as we are like "Dude, it's right next to you!". Then he stuck his head in his car drawer (yes, there is an entire drawer in the entertainment center just for cars. It has worked wonders getting him to leave the rest of the entertainment stand alone.) reached around and pulled out a little rubber frog and showed it off to Daddy proud as he could be. You can tell when he knows he is correctly answering a question because he does it with a big ol' grin.
He is also starting to figure out people's names if you ask him where someone is and he is learning the names of our cats.
Ok. I could probably go one all night thinking of every cool little thing he does, but I'll let you be for now and leave you with my video attempt at getting him to show off for you. I have to get it on video as he often gets stage fright when we ask him to show off in person. Keep in mind I said attempt and ignore my weird voice.
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