Conversational

Every day it seems like the kids do so many cool things, I think "I should blog that" or my wife will say "that needs to go in their calendars." And at the end of the day, those things have faded away.

Well, here are a couple random things that I can remember. W is now not only mobile, but he's deceptive. He loves putting his hand in the dog water. He knows we won't let him do it. So he's developed a few ways to get to the dog water that give him a better chance to actually get there and spill the water across the kitchen floor.

His first mehtod is speed. He will wait till we're not looking (I'm not making any of this up), and sprint-crawl to the dog water. This has about a 50% success ratio when we're not in the immediate vicinity of the kitchen.

The second method is misdirection. He'll crawl the long way around our island, hoping to lull us into a false sense of security. When he's cleared the corner, he sprints to the dog water.

Finally, there is outright deception. He'll crawl to a toy that happens to be on the way to the dog water. When he gets there, he sits up for an instant, and then discards the toy and speeds to the bowl.

From immobile and sweet to deceptive and fast in 1 month.

C is now conversational. He and I have somehwat coherent discussions.

C: "I'm angry"
Me: "Why"
C: "I don't want to go to Great America."
Me: "Why"
C: "I don't want to ride the wheel barrows."
Me: "Ok, you don't have to ride the wheel barrows."
C: "I WANT to ride the wheel barrows."
Me: "ok"

But the newest thing with C is that he's asking permission for all kinds of things - except toys and food. With those things it's mainly "Want that," or "Neeeeed that." But for whatever reason, he'll ask permission to be sad and angry.

For example, I wouldn't let him run into the black lagoon near our place that contains more algae and dead grass than actual water. That got the response from C: "May I please be angry with you."

A and I were talking last night. One of the things I'm realizing as a parent is how the kids' development goes so quickly, but you forget what it was like just a few weeks ago. W has been mobile for a month, but it seems like forever. C is now singing whole songs and reciting whole books, and I'm sure by next week it will be as if he's been doing it all his life.