Baby Einstein, Indeed

At least once a week, Paxton surprises me with what he knows. Sometimes his knowledge is the result of Chris teaching him something without my knowledge. Sometimes he just absorbs something that one of us has said in passing somewhere along the way. Yesterday, we came to a stop sign and he threw his hand out in front of him and shouted "STOP"! I have no idea where he got that. I have said "stop" and "go" to him before in the car, but I don't remember doing it at a stop sign. The kid pays attention to everything. At this point, I'd almost believe he could read the sign.

He is spot-on with his animal sounds and identifications. His pronounciations lack clarity at times, but more people understand him than I would have anticipated. At the library on Monday, Miss Stacey was reading a story and mentioned hippopotomus'. He was standing in front of her, half listening, and he pointed and said "Bip-Bo!". She knew just what he was trying to convey. He says some variation of "giraffe", "alligator", "dog", "cat", "horse", "butterfly", "goose", "bear" and "duck". For other animals, he prefers just to make the sounds. He moos (cow), roars (lion), oinks (pig), hoo-hoos (monkey), bok-boks (chickens), and, well, makes an elephant noise along with doing the ASL for "elephant". He is almost as intrigued with his animal books as he is with his transportation books. And that's sayin' something.

As he continues to learn new things, I do, also. I daily go head-to-head with my toddler. Our biggest battle is mealtime. What is his favorite one day is detested the next. He currently loves his morning oatmeal ("meal-meal"), but I won't buy it in bulk anytime soon. As soon as I make the assumption that I can safely serve something to him, he turns up his little nose to it in disgust. He used to love scrambled eggs, but now he wants just two little bites of mine and then he's done ("nun?"). He once would have sold his soul for crackers, but now that he knows cookies exist (animal crackers = "crackers oink-oink"), he physically pushes my hand away when I offer them. Fruit is a crap shoot. One day he loves cantelope, the next day, he contorts his mouth in horror when he tastes it. One day he thinks pears are the bees' knees, the next day, he dramatically lets them drop out of his mouth at first bite. Yesterday, he decided that cooked carrots are the greatest thing since breast milk, but I anticipate him imminent hatred of them by next week.

The trick I stumbled on quite by accident was finding that if I say what the food is while I'm offering it to him, he's more willing to try it. "Do you want some PEAR?" gets a more accomodating reaction than just handing it to him silently, on a fork. It's like he just wants to be completely in the loop every step of the way. Last night, when he was enjoying his carrots, I got out his Meal Time sign language book to teach him the sign for "carrot". He loved that. He doesn't always immediately attempt the sign himself, but then, someday when I I make some comment about carrots while we're at a playdate, he'll blow me away by signing "carrot" back to me. His wheels are turning. This morning, he took the signing book from me and "read" it, saying jibberish words and making jibberish signs to himself. It was so cute.

In two days, our little guy turns 18-months-old, and our little guy is not so little anymore. Every day he is demonstrating more personality, more independence and more intelligence. We have had such a wonderful time figuring each other out and exploring this life together. He changed everything, and as cliche as it sounds, I really don't remember my life without him. And I don't want to. He has added structure, as well as spontaneity to my life. Never before did I have three well-balanced meals a day. Now I have no choice. I can't stay up until all hours, because I need my rest to keep up with his energy. I used to spend my days inside, now even in the 100 degree summer days, we make time to swim or run in the yard or walk the dogs or pretend to drive the "big car". I love to think of new activities for us to do together. I love to teach him new things, because he is so hungry to learn. At the end of every day, I'm utterly exhausted and sometimes at the end of my rope, but always, always, when I say our prayers with him as I'm tucking him in, I thank God for my son, for my husband, for our family and friends. My life has never been so blessed.