More Samuel Pictures

Our boy continues to grow; next week he will be 16 months old. His vocabulary of words (that at least Laura and I can understand) is growing rapidly, his coordination is also improving, and I've even noticed improvements in his patience. There are new pictures on the Samuel picture page, including shots with Cousin Eddie and other family members from last month's trip to California.

The things he picks up and the things he understands are often surprising. Casually mention a word like "water" or "cheese" in a sentence, and he'll start repeating it and holding up an example (if it's handy) before you even realize you've said a word he knows. The other day I was putting on my coat and boots to go to work, and he found his fleece snowsuit and brought it to me, clamoring. He knew that if I put it on him, that would mean he was coming with me; and if not, he would be left behind. In the past couple weeks he has suddenly become very interested in books; he will pull one out and bring it over, and sit with me while I read it. Sometimes he gets impatient and turns the pages too fast, or even closes the book halfway through and finds another one, but it's a nice change from "Mr. Perpetual Motion" who never used to sit on my lap for more than a few seconds under any circumstances.

His walking is fun to watch. He is not one to pitch headlong in his impatience to run, but rather seems to be taking his time to concentrate on good technique. He takes slow and measured steps, maintaining very good balance. I am convinced that he could walk from one end of the house to the other, but he generally gets tired of this partway through and drops down to crawling, at which he is still much faster. I think that, one day, his balance will improve to the point where he can run, and only then will he stay on two feet as his primary means of locomotion.

We've been having fun learning parts of the body. He loves the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," though he doesn't actually sing it himself. Instead, he puts his hands to his head and says "daaaa" in a sing-song voice, and expects us to take it from there. He also enjoys when we count with him. Just say the word "count," and he will usually respond with an enthusiastic "Two!" He also likes "three" and "six," and gets very excited about "nine," but I've never heard him repeat any other numbers. 

Posted by Matt on 2/23/2005 09:45:00 PM