But he continued to be cute for the rest of lunchtime.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Our little elf
I picked up a seasonal topper for Tim at the dollar store today. He had it on for half an hour before a) I realized I should take a picture, and b) he realized he had it on. Of course, he realized he had a hat on his head the moment he saw me trying to take a picture. I was too quick for him, though!
But he continued to be cute for the rest of lunchtime.
But he continued to be cute for the rest of lunchtime.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Charades
When Tim turned 19 months and still wasn't saying any words, I figured I'd better teach him some sign language. McPie's band members had given us a baby signs book for a shower present before Tim was born, but I never really used it. I liked the idea, but could never remember the signs on the fly in order to use them and teach them when he was a baby. But as a toddler, Tim learned them faster than I did.
A month later, he speaks with his hands. Please, thank you, drink, eat, milk, cookie, more, all done, book, home, coat, hat, Wii, Mum, Dad, dirty, sit, look, ouch, dog, cat, bird ... and many more. Some are official (ASL) signs, and some are ones we've made up intuitively. He even signs when he wakes up in the middle of the night: "milk" and "please". First thing in the morning, he can't decide which he wants first, and signs both alternatively: "book!" "milk!" "book!" "milk!"
Tim does vocalize quite a lot (um, constantly... in fact, his sign for "drink" has a slurping sound effect), and seems to be -- maybe, finally -- on the verge of talking in words. Today, I found him on the couch holding a framed photo of McPie's mom (which he'd scoffed illicitly from an out-of-bounds shelf). I said, "Oh, you've found a picture of Nana." And Tim said "Nana!" I thought it might be a one-off, but it turns out that after some coaching, he got that it was a picture of Nana, and now he will say "Nana" when prompted. Finally, an actual word.
And Tim sings. He loves, loves, loves songs. Between us, grandparents, and the music class we attended in the spring and fall, we have a lengthy repertoire of kiddie songs (many of them singable nursery rhymes, you know the type), and he just LOVES songs. He has actions for all of them, to the extent that the action for songs have become the sign for the thing in the song when it's mentioned in a totally different context. And he's started singing along. Not in words -- just tunes.
Tonight, we celebrated the last Sunday of Advent. We're not a religious family, but over the past few years, we've developed a new tradition (in a patched-together family like ours, all the traditions are new) of getting together at alternating parents' houses for Advent Sunday suppers. (Then we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together for supper and brunch.) One of the sub-traditions of Advent supper is that we sing Christmas carols around the dinner table as a prelude to dessert. The only family member not keen on this is Ben, who tends to mouth the words in a feeble attempt to earn his dessert. This year, Tim sang along. The only song he knew well was The Huron Carol (we have an illustrated book that he makes me sing to him a half dozen times a day), but after singing along to that one, he got into the swing of it and just sang along to most of the songs from his perch on Constance's lap.
It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.
A month later, he speaks with his hands. Please, thank you, drink, eat, milk, cookie, more, all done, book, home, coat, hat, Wii, Mum, Dad, dirty, sit, look, ouch, dog, cat, bird ... and many more. Some are official (ASL) signs, and some are ones we've made up intuitively. He even signs when he wakes up in the middle of the night: "milk" and "please". First thing in the morning, he can't decide which he wants first, and signs both alternatively: "book!" "milk!" "book!" "milk!"
Tim does vocalize quite a lot (um, constantly... in fact, his sign for "drink" has a slurping sound effect), and seems to be -- maybe, finally -- on the verge of talking in words. Today, I found him on the couch holding a framed photo of McPie's mom (which he'd scoffed illicitly from an out-of-bounds shelf). I said, "Oh, you've found a picture of Nana." And Tim said "Nana!" I thought it might be a one-off, but it turns out that after some coaching, he got that it was a picture of Nana, and now he will say "Nana" when prompted. Finally, an actual word.
And Tim sings. He loves, loves, loves songs. Between us, grandparents, and the music class we attended in the spring and fall, we have a lengthy repertoire of kiddie songs (many of them singable nursery rhymes, you know the type), and he just LOVES songs. He has actions for all of them, to the extent that the action for songs have become the sign for the thing in the song when it's mentioned in a totally different context. And he's started singing along. Not in words -- just tunes.
Tonight, we celebrated the last Sunday of Advent. We're not a religious family, but over the past few years, we've developed a new tradition (in a patched-together family like ours, all the traditions are new) of getting together at alternating parents' houses for Advent Sunday suppers. (Then we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together for supper and brunch.) One of the sub-traditions of Advent supper is that we sing Christmas carols around the dinner table as a prelude to dessert. The only family member not keen on this is Ben, who tends to mouth the words in a feeble attempt to earn his dessert. This year, Tim sang along. The only song he knew well was The Huron Carol (we have an illustrated book that he makes me sing to him a half dozen times a day), but after singing along to that one, he got into the swing of it and just sang along to most of the songs from his perch on Constance's lap.
It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.
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