Milestone Minutiae

Today when I was putting Luke down for a nap, he didn't nurse to sleep. When he finished, he signed "Sing" to me and then snuggled close. At first he sang along with me for a little bit. Then I sang, we snuggled, and he fell asleep.

After turning on the light in the hall bathroom, I heard Emmett yell "Who turned that light on?" so I replied "Me." Then Emmett replied, "Mom, is that you, or is it Dad?"

This evening Luke was holding a finger puppet of a duck and shouting "Duck!" over and over again. We said "duck" back and forth to one another, and he seemed really pleased with himself.

Someday when I'm cutting fabric, doing dishes, or cooking, and I notice that I'm not leaning forward to reach my work surface because there are no boys killing each other under foot, I'm sure I'll miss it.

Each night before we sing Christmas carols, we light some candles. Emmett has lit a few himself, carefully supervised with matches (he can't get the child-proof flame stick to light- even I have trouble with that thing!). After singing, Emmett blows out the candles. Of course, Luke now wants to get in on this fun, so I hold him while he tries to blow out a candle. His version usually results in air going straight, blowing his little bangs into the air. Luke is fascinated by the candles and fire in the fireplace. He quickly learned to sign "hot" and one night when David lit a fire, Luke was silently chanting "hot" every time he entered the room. It's especially cute when he stops in front of the fireplace, and you can see his little bangs blow up into the air.

Luke started walking at 11 months. It wasn't long before he was running around the house, or at least trying to. These days, I've noticed that when he wakes up and I put him down, he literally hits the ground running. Usually he's off to find Emmett, but sometimes it's just his need for speed.

Emmett has been sleep walking. He seems to be very much awake, but he's not. When you ask him questions, he's totally non-responsive. It's somehow different from when he ignores us when he's awake. Usually he's agitated, but if you can get him to wake up a bit he goes straight back to sleep.

This morning Luke brought a book to me, put it in my hands, and said, "Book!" Including the "k" sound at the end! It may be the first time I've heard such a clear and correct terminal consonant. Surprised, I looked back at him and said, "You said, 'book!' Can you say, 'book?'" He signed "book" back to me.

For a while now, Luke responds to spoken commands. He successfully responds to stuff like "See Daddy's shoe? Go get Daddy's shoe," or "Bring me a book and I'll read it to you." In the car, he sometimes fights when it's time to get strapped into his car seat. When David was driving a few days ago, I decided to try explaining to Luke why I needed him to sit down and get strapped in. I told him it was time to drive, and that we all needed to be in our seat belts to be safe. I went through each of the car occupants in turn - "Emmett is getting on his seat belt, Daddy has on his seat belt, Mommy is getting on her seat belt, and it's time for Luke to get on his seat belt." He immediately sat down and just looked at me (not yelling!) and let me strap him in. Of course, that was probably a total fluke and I'll still have to fight with him. But it gave the impression of a great deal of understanding at the time!

Emmett has a child-sized folding camp chair. Last night, he made a bed in it for Sophia, his baby jaguar. She had a pillow (pajama bottoms folded up) and a blanket (tee-shirt). Emmett takes good care of Sophia.

We got our first big dump of snow yesterday. After bundling the kids up, we all went outside to play for a bit. It was overcast and still snowing, but there was no wind so it wasn't too cold. Emmett had a great time trying to make snowballs and making tracks in the snow. He also cleared the slide by going down it, of course. Later he got to sweep the deck with David, which he also likes to do. Luke was upset at first about walking on the snow. He seemed bothered by the fact that it wasn't solid. After noticing that, we took him under the trees where there was only a dusting of snow. He felt better walking on that, and followed me around on paths that David had shoveled. After a while, he set out to walk across the driveway even though it had 6-8 inches of snow on it. He didn't fall down or get upset while doing it, either.

I like to play with Bilibos and my Spiderman toy. And I like to spin in them.

Luke really wants to communicate. He points and grunts a lot . He knows quite a few signs (about 15-20 these days), but mostly signs "bath" and "light." He rarely uses the sign for "milk," preferring instead to grab the boppy and bring it to me, or suck his thumb while pulling on my shirt. I just checked on Emmett's signing when he was little, and at about 16 months he absolutely exploded with learning signs, going from around 12 signs at 15 months to 40 at 16 months to 68 at 17 months. I don't even remember most of those signs, but I guess they're good ones to go back and review. Spoken communication is more limited, but still expanding. He says "Dada," and "Mama," but has added to this "Lee" for light, and he's definitely said "Juh" for "Jake."

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, Luke had his first bubble bath. Typically, Luke loves baths. But this time, Emmett asked for bubbles and Luke was very skeptical. He spent some time signing "bath," pointing into the tub, walking away a few steps, and then coming back. Eventually, I cleared the bubbles from one side and put him in. He was unsure at first, but quickly calmed down and enjoyed the bath.