Leaps and Bounds
We can’t seem to keep up on everything that Nate is doing. Since our last blog I will mention the new things. I am not sure exactly when some of the things started but it will hopefully give people a general idea.
Talking
Nate is still not saying anything too audible other than mama and dada. I have heard him on occassion say mommy and daddy, but nothing regular. I also heard him say “what’s that” as he pointed to pancakes. I have not heard it since but it was as clear as day. He will try to repeat sounds. The one word that I have had the most success with him repeating is stick. He likes to play with sticks. Of course he doesn’t quite get all the hard consonants, but it does sound like it. There is a fine line with what we think he says and what is just gibberish.
Walking
Not yet…. however he has taken a few little steps and each day he seems to have more confidence. It almost seems like he thinks about it too much so he collapses. He usually has gone the farthest or stood the longest when he was preoccupied. He will hold our hand but really it doesn’t feel like we are more than just security. He does get everywhere he wants to go and he does it really quickly.
Behavior
Nate is starting to manipulate. OK, he has been doing it awhile, but it is now more obvious. He will fuss a little when one of us leaves the room. He will go after something even when we say no. Example: last evening he was going towards the dog bowl. I told him not to, but with a big grin he snuck his hand in the bowl. He was looking at me the whole time as if he wasn’t doing anything. Sometimes he will crawl faster. If we take him away from something he also will fuss for a second to see what we do.
Eating
Nate is eating pretty much anything we give him. Some nights he eats better than others. He definately enjoys eating when we do. Sometimes we make him wait until we are ready to eat, because he will just play with his food until we are ready anyway. He is starting to bite food and will bite when I ask him too. Last night on a whim, I put mashed sweet potato on his spoon. He then proceeded to correctly put the spoon correctly in his mouth. He repeated this. Then I gave him the bowl and with my help by modeling he put the spoon in the bowl and was able to get some potato on it and then put it in his mouth. He didn’t do this more that a few times before he realized that it felt nice to squeeze the potato between his fingers on his other hand. He is starting to want to eat what we eat. This forces us to really think about what we eat.
Riding
Nate recieved a radio flyer for his birthday. It is the prep-tricycle- tricycle. Where you have to power it with your feet on the ground. He is able to propel it by himself. We aren’t sure he will stay on it, so we still keep a close eye and hand near him.
Body Language: Nate is mimicking things that we do. He saw Scott hitting something this evening when I was holding him and he started to hit me. (gentle pats). He claps on command with no visual cue only verbal. He gives a hi 5 and he waves hello on goodbye when he is in the mood. Sometimes he is preoccupied. Nate dances when he hears music or singing. (he also likes to sing)
Playing
Nate knows how to push trucks around correctly. He still likes to look at books. He is into pointing at everything.
There are so many things. I will give Scott the opportunity to add to this if he feels. I think that is all for now.
UPDATE: I’m planning on writing up a page that describes Nate’s first birthday and what we did….and maybe include some of how things went for the party we threw for him, but I haven’t gotten around to it just yet. Will do so soon. –scott