Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Fast and furious

The milestones are coming thick and fast these days! Yesterday, Gus stacked three blocks on top of each other all by himself, and a couple of days ago, Sam got the hang of clapping. Yesterday D and I determined that Sam can not only clap, but knows the word "clap," and tonight, as I was holding Sam on my lap and singing "Little Rabbit Fufu" to him for the umpty-umpth time (I know, I know: "Fufu" is an awful song with a terrible pun at the end and an unregenerate violent hero. My kids will be warped. But I learned it in Girl Scouts), and Sam started to clap along -- in time. And he stayed in time through two verses! Listen, I was in choir and took dance lessons and did all sorts of things throughout my high school and college years that required people to keep time, and you know what? There are a LOT of adults and near-adults that can't keep time like 13-month-old Sam was doing it this evening! I was floored. (I'm not crazy, though -- I have no expectation that you, my long-suffering audience, will likewise be floored by this simple feat. But I was.)

As for talking, I already mentioned Sam's foray into "kih-tee" (which was actually more like "kih-tay," which gave it a very hip and happenin' sound). He also calls the cats "kee ka" (obviously short for "kitty cat") and, most often, "dee gah." Of course, everything else is "dee gah" these days too. Sam is a one-word man, for the most part. Until very recently, his one word was "Bah," and now it's "dee gah." I have suggested to him that he branch out with "Monet" as well but it seems he'll have none of that.

Gus is seriously into "Da-dee" these days, and actually seems to know who that is. Both of the boys do, for that matter. Yesterday after D left for work, I asked each of the boys separately where Daddy was, and they both did the exact same thing, which cracked me up. They looked puzzled for a second, then turned and pointed at the front door and then the window, as if to say, "Well, I saw him go that way this morning but darned if I know where he got to after that." But Gus wins the "Da-dee" sweepstakes. Yesterday morning, I was sleeping in for a few minutes while D fed and diapered the boys (as he does most mornings, to give him his due). Suddenly an insistent voice in the other room saying, "Da-dee! Da-deeeee!" woke me out of a sound sleep. It wasn't so much that Gus was loud, but his voice had a peculiarly mature tone to it that just startled the hell out of me. I swear it sounded like he was 4 or 5 instead of just a wee toddler. A blast from the future, I guess!

Too many milestones, too little time to type. Yesterday Gus got on their little blue dinosaur-slash-rocking horse all by himself, for the very first time. I had put him on it and showed him how to dismount a couple of times, and I guess he did a little reverse engineering to figure out how to get on. I looked up from the paper and found him on it and already rocking, and I must admit I squealed in pure delight and clapped my hands. In return he gave me his thousand-watt smile and his rusty-hinge inhaling squeak which is his version of a laugh at the moment, and it was all priceless.

Sam has an unrequited passion for the ceiling fan in our living room. I rather like the fan too (it is antique white and has some curlique scrolling on the housing that makes it look like we pulled it from some 19th century drugstore, when in fact it was on sale at the Home Despot) but Sam luuuuuuuvs his fan. And the ceiling fans in the office and our bedroom need not apply. He points to the living room fan at least twenty times a day and shouts "Bah!" or now, "Dee gah!" and I say back, "Yes, Sam, that's the fan. FFFFFFFaaaaaaaan. It goes round and round. Can you say fan? Okay, guess not." And then he kicks and grins, happy in his passion for the fan. (Okay, technically speaking this is not a milestone. But it is amusing, at least to Fond Mommy.)

Speaking of Mommy, we're still lacking one milestone. The boys know who Daddy is, but they seem to be clueless about who Mommy is, even though when they are upset their calls of "Ma ma! Ma ma ma, ma!" rock the household. D can reliably get them to point to the kitty cat (granted, they have six to choose from, but still), or can get Sam to point to the fan. But when he asks them to show him Mommy, they just stare at him, or like as not, turn and point at the wall or the table or the refrigerator magnets or whatever has taken their fancy. But not at Ma. Ma ma ma.

Maybe tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Kih....tee!

It's late and I'm pooped as usual, but I have to get this down. (It occurs to me that there's an awful lot of "poop" around this house, what with the boys producing it and me being pooped so much!) D usually gets the boys up, but he slept in this morning and I had the honor of seeing them first thing. As usual, I spent the first few moments after I went in going from one crib to the other, just saying hi. Sam was already standing up, and as I patted his little back, he pointed past me to the doorway and said, very clearly, "Kih...tee!"

Startled, I looked where he was pointing, and there in the open doorway sat our big orange tomcat, John Carter. "Kitty" indeed! The reason it was so startling was that Sam hasn't really used words before. Actually, he had reverted lately to saying only "Ba!" for all occasions, and I was starting to worry about him a little. He had said ma-ma-ma and similar in the past, but every time he said what sounded like a word, I couldn't get him to repeat it. But this time, excited by the prospect of a real live cat only a few feet away (I'm being slightly sarcastic here -- our boys are both inundated by cats all day long!), Sam actually repeated "kitty" two or three times.

So, I think this was a "first word" for Sam. Which amuses me, as I remember telling D that our kids' first word would have to be kitty!

Gus is still working on a first word. He appears to use the syllables "die die" to mean Daddy, but since he will also walk around pointing at random objects and saying "die die," it's still a little unclear. He also says ma-ma-ma but again, the meaning is unclear. The sound he makes that amuses me the most is a kind of shushing hiss, that he makes when he is pleased with something! I have no idea how he decided that a hiss was a good thing. Maybe it is a corruption of "yes?"

Well, who knows. But just remember, hiss if you feel happy! And point at any and all available "kih-tee!"