More!

More! That is the word of the week. Reshen uses it with gusto all day- "more" food, "more" of his tv show, "more" of that story, "more" of that song, "more" of that game, "more" of that dog that just ran away... he even says it to himself when he wants to do something over again. It's so funny how he's *really* grasped that concept now and uses it!

He's also begun saying "Thank You," although it sounds more like "tee too" when you give him something or he gives something to you :-) I'm so happy that he's picked this up. I've never even prompted him to say it- he must just hear it from me and from the kids I nanny for. It's *so* cute to hear in his little sweet voice. I hope he keeps it up!

He is also beginning to use more 2 word phrases. What I've heard him say:

No Mine!
More Cheese
Bye DaDa
Bur (bird) Go?

He doesn't use them consistently yet, but every now and then he'll utter 2 words close together enough that they seem like a phrase. Cool!

He's also tackling some more "difficult" words these days. Some new words he's saying:

Broccoli (gawk-i)
Tiger
Motorcycle (ki-kyle)
Helicopter (cop-ker)
Beep Beep (for a bus)
Eat
Poopy
Hand

On Friday we played "Ring Around the Rosie" with Luke and Lucy. Reshen thought that was hilarious. Luke, Lucy, and I would "fall" down at the appropriate time and Reshen would watch us with glee and then say "oun! (down)" and do a slow, dramatic fall to the floor. Then he would pop up and say "more, more, ash, ash (ashes, as in part of the song)."

He also tells me to do certain songs and games with him. He is getting better at communicating excatly which ones he wants, through words and hand motions, but I'm still at a loss sometimes. I feel bad when I can't figure out excatly which one he wants. If I get it wrong he'll say "No, No," and shake his head, like "come on, mom, that's not right!"

He's been using "MaMa" *a lot* lately. I can't be out of the room a second that he's not calling for me. He also uses it to get my attention when I'm right there. He'll climb into my lap saying "Mama, Mama!" and then will tell me what he wants (well sort of).

I've realized I really need to watch what I say and do in front of him now. I was talking to Alan in the car today and Reshen was reading in the back in his car seat. I said something about the LoneStar Steakhouse and Reshen shouts "Star! Star!" He had no idea what we were really talking about but really likes stars at the moment, so was excited that we said that word, I guess. I thought it was funny that he was actually listening to our conversation, though, as we weren't talking to him at all :-)

Oh, and he showed me how he picks up things I do... Sometimes Chancey, our cat, tries to get out the door when I open it, and I push him out of the way with my foot (not roughly, mind you), and I say "No Chancey." The other day Chancey was hanging out by the garage door and Reshen walked up to him, stuck out his little foot at him and said "No!" It made me laugh, but also made me realize I need to make it a point to be nicer to Chancey around the little man!

Reshen is really into drawing right now. Ok, so it's actually scribbling, but he thinks he's drawing :-) One of our favorite activities is to draw with sidewalk chalk outside. He plops himself down in the driveway and we both scribble away. I draw something, like an elephant or a dog and he shouts out the name and does the appropriate sound and then scribbles over it. We draw animals, shapes and letters. He could do that all afternoon I think. He thinks all letters are either an S, B, or M right now, and all shapes are Triangles, and every color is Blue ;-) But at least he's getting the concept! He pretends he's writing and will say "eh-s (S)," "B," eh-m (M)"! I'm really amazed at how much he's been absorbing lately.

I love to watch him play these days. He gets so focused sometimes. He likes to take out all his cards (flash cards and uno cards) and sticks them, one-by-one through the slats in his Crawl-n-Cruise toy. When he begins to run out, I push them back through for him and he'll start all over again. He will play with those cards for a long time... he also likes to move them in and out of containers and boxes. He is so serious and quiet when he plays with them.

He has also been playing with his Weebles toys a lot lately. He likes to make them go down the slide (and makes a great sound effect for it) and announcing "up, oun (down) before and after they make their descent. He also likes to put his Weebles into other objects (like the ball chutes in his crawl-n-cruise and in mommy's backpack). I had to laugh when I found my laptop bag full of Weebles today :-)

I just love my little man. :-)