Alik surprises us every day with new sounds, expressions, etc. This is such a fun age because he's like a little sponge! Here are some of my new favorite things that he does or has done in the past month....
1. I bought him a play cell phone at Target that I can record a message on. The message I left was, "Hello Alik! I love you!" The first time he heard it, he blew a kiss. I guess whenever I tell him I love him, I follow it with a kiss. So cute!
2. He's almost mastered the entire barnyard. When we ask him "What does a ____ say?", he knows how to "moo", "baa", "nay" (this one sounds a lot like a sheep though), "meow", "ruff, ruff", "whoooo", and my new favorite farm animal "doodle doo" (in a high pitched voice) for rooster. That one gets me every time!
3. He's moved beyond the barnyard now and can also "oo, oo, oo" like a monkey and "roar" like a lion. The lion is actually his clearest animal sound. He says that one with zest and ranks as my 2nd favorite sound!
4. He's started nodding his head "yes" in response to questions. We don't think he completely understands what it means, but he certainly knows when a question is being asked that needs a response.
5. I know I'll regret saying THIS is a few months (weeks?), but, right now I think it's cute when he says, "na, na, na" (meaning "no, no, no") when he doesn't want to do something.
6. If he wants something done that he can't do (such as flipping a switch on a toy to turn it on), he'll actually take my finger, drag it over to the toy's switch, and make my finger turn it on.
7. Similar to #6, when we read books (which is A LOT), I'm always pointing to things in the book as I read. So, now he'll sometimes take MY finger and point to something on the page with it before I do it myself.
8. You know that game of trust, where you stand with your back to a person and fall into their arms, trusting that he/she will catch you? Alik apparently likes to play a version of this. If he knows you're sitting close by, he'll slowly walk backwards until his heel hits you. Then he'll literally fall backwards into our laps or arms.
9. He's definitely exerting his independence lately. If he could say, "I do it myself!!!", I know we'd be hearing it all the time. He always wants to walk in the stores now instead of being carried or put in a cart (not always a good thing). He likes to walk up the stairs by himself. Unfortunately, he won't crawl up or down but has to walk like a big boy by pulling himself up the rungs and taking steps on his feet. I don't like this because it'll be a long time before he's big enough to do this safely without someone standing behind him.
10. Have I mentioned what a big "helper" he is? :) See pictures below for examples of how he "helps" me every day....
Helping with laundry ("wearing" Daddy's shorts here)
Picking up "trash" and handing it to me (Sometimes this is not a good thing...like when he found a poo that Callie had left in the house while we were out, picked it up and brought it to me....YUCK!)
Vacuuming - I hoped that by buying him his own vacuum, he'd let me use mine. Nope, he's still more interested in mine.
