Hi, Da

This morning Kasey said, "Hi, Kalin!" and Kalin responded with "Hi, Da!". It was really cute and fun to hear.

Before having Kalin, I never realized how exciting it would be to be a part of a child's life while they were learning some of the most basic skills that we as humans are capable of. When other parents would talk about their infant's or toddler's new skills, I didn't really understand the excitement. I mean, of course they can roll over, or sit up, or babble. But I get it now. Seeing your helpless babe change and grow and learn right before your eyes is amazing and exciting. And the joy of realizing that they've learned a new skill and are closer to becoming an individual who you are able to carry on a conversation with and really communicate and share with is a wonderful feeling. I had one of those moments today.

Kalin's been able to follow simple commands for a little while but today I got a very clear picture of how able he really is. We had been playing on his Bounce 'N Spin Pony today but he had lost interest so I had turned it off. A few minutes later, he started signing "please" and pointing at the receiver for the game which plugs into the tv and receives the signals from the pony as it moves. I thought at first that he wanted to play with the receiver but then decided to test him a little. Without pointing or motioning I said, "If you want to play again go sit on the pony". He walked right over to the pony, climbed on, and looked up at me. I was shocked and amazed. He really does understand what we say. Which brought about a couple of realizations for me.

First, now that he has demonstrated his capabilities in understanding me, I can let go of my notions that he might be too young for certain things: such as being disciplined when he has repeatedly been told "no" to certain activities and decides to do them anyway. If he can understand the instructions I had just given him, then he can definitely understand and be expected to obey, "No hitting", "No throwing food on the floor", "Don't grab the remote" and other various instructions and requests. This realization brought with it a sense of freedom for me. I can raise my expectations of him up a notch. He's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler, and with that comes more responsibility on both of our sides: him to obey and me to discipline.

Second, we have to be really careful what we say and how we say it. Who knows what attitudes or language he's picking up on (not that we walk around cursing or speak with angry tones but there is the occasional "crap" and "sucks" which I don't really want my toddler picking up).

So even though he still doesn't communicate with us verbally (with words instead of babble and grunts) it's good to know that communication is working in the other direction.

A few other observations:

When Kasey gives Kalin a bath, he says that Kalin will make a "duck" noise when he's holding his rubber ducky. Kasey's been working on this with him for a couple weeks.

Also during bathtime, Kasey and Kalin have come up with a new game. Kasey slides him back and forth in the tub making waves and splashes. Kasey used to call it the "wave game" but then one time he said that and Kalin started waving at him. Kasey decided to come up with a different name so Kalin doesn't get confused.

Kalin is really good now at not only taking objects out of the box, pot, or basket but is also really good about putting them back in. Of course, after working for several minutes to gather all the objects together in the receptacle he ends up picking it up and turning it upside down so they all fall out again. But then he'll just start all over putting everything back in. I admire his persistence and focus. In this picture, he is putting little round pieces of paper into the pot and then dumping them all out again. He did this for about 20 minutes last week. One would think that this would be helpful when it's time to clean-up the toys. It would be except for his need to dump everything back out.

Instead of constantly knocking my tower or pyramid of blocks over, he has started participating in the building process. I'm very proud of him. This is a big step from when he couldn't stand to have any of his blocks remotely resembling order and organization. Of course, he eventually will knock it over but only after he has added on a few blocks of his own.

Sometimes he likes to walk around the house with his hands clasped behind his back. It's really cute and I hope to get a picture or video of it soon.

He's been sick for about a week now. I hope he gets better soon. He still coughs (it can get bad at night and I feel so bad for him) and now has a runny nose which is starting to get raw from all the wiping. Poor boy. It hasn't disrupted his nighttime sleeping but his naps have been really short and inconsistent. I hope once he's all better his naps go back to the way they were. I miss those 2-hour afternoon naps.

I did get to enjoy lots of extra hugs and cuddles from him for a couple days when he really wasn't feeling well. He was perfectly content to sit with me and watch tv or read...for about 20 minutes. Then it was back to playing. He has so much energy. It makes me tired. I need those 2 hours back in the afternoon.