When I go in to get him out of the crib EVERY morning, he immediately points to the flash cards. Yes, my one year old son wants to look at flash cards! Right now, you are thinking that I am one of THOSE mommies - the psychotic, overzealous, push their kids too hard kind of mommy. Let me explain. When he first discovered his love of books, the only kind of book he would show interest in was one with photographs. I had these animal flash cards that were beautiful photos, from when I taught preschool, so I figured maybe he would like looking at them. He loved those so much, that when I saw a package with 4 different flash card boxes, (Colors & Shapes, First Words, Numbers, & The Alphabet), that also had photographs along with the words, I bought those. Now, he is obsessed. If that wasn't shocking enough, when I do the First Words flash cards, he does a lot of the signs as I show him the cards! Something else I found amazing was a couple days ago, when I was preoccupied and didn't get to those darn flash cards quick enough, he opened two of the boxes himself! Later that same day, at work, the four year old girl I work with, was trying to open a box of cards and ripped it in half, and I just had to laugh.
I am so glad that I have decided to teach Dylan signs, and I have to pause to thank Burgh Baby's Mom, and especially Alexis, for inspiring me to do so. At this point, he does the sign for eat, more, please (EAT MORE PLEASE!!), milk, dog, hat, car, banana, cheese, apple, book, shoes, socks, fish, baby, plane, ball, all done, and occasionally, thank you.
When we were all sick, as Jim was leaving for work one morning, we looked at Dylan and he was signing "hat" and pointing at Jim, to tell him to wear his hat. Too cute! If I told him to wear his hat, no way, but when Dylan does, on goes the hat. If I hadn't taught him signs, I wouldn't realize just how much he understands at this point. He is often signing words we are using in our conversations, when we didn't even realize he was listening!
He still isn't saying much, though. He finally started saying mama! Before, I really think he was just messing with me. I would say, "Say Ma-Ma!", and he would grin and shout "DA-DA!" every time. So, he says dada, mama, buh(for ball), daah(for down), yes, and un (for cars or trucks). One day we were sitting on the couch, and he kept pointing, saying "Unnn!" I said "Onion?" I was going batty trying to figure out what he wanted, until I finally said "Dylan, go get the Unnnn!" He brought his blue truck over to the couch, and then I got it. Whenever we play with a car or truck, I would go "Ruunnnn"(like the cars motor revving). He can't make the "r" sound, so he says "Unnn". He went and got his dump truck, and bulldozer, and lined those up next to the blue truck, all the while saying "Unnn". I said, "Yes, those are all the Unnn's you have". Then he got up, went over to his bin of books, and took out two books that have wheels attached to them, and lined those up as well. Corrected by a one year old. Wow, it is starting early.
His newest love is playing the piano. He doesn't just sit on our lap and plunk around in one area. NO! He half stands, to get the optimum amount of oommpph when striking each and every key all the way up and down the piano! He lives for praise, so as he is playing, he is often looking at the spectators, waiting for applause.
Another thing he loves to do now is to walk in circles until he gets dizzy. I'll try to post a video of that soon. He also loves his hat. He sometimes wants to wear it in the house!
We are still working on leaving the bottle behind. He really loves his bottle, so it has been a struggle. At this point, I am only giving him one when he first wakes up, and then he gets the sippy cup the rest of the day. He is still throwing tantrums when I give it to him, but if I walk away, he usually gives in, and starts drinking. I try really hard not to laugh while he is throwing the tantrum, but it is pretty funny, so walking away is really serving two purposes!
I also have to thank Nicole, because looking at her photographs (which are awesome!), made me realize I hadn't done a photo shoot in a long time. Wow, it was tough! But, here are a couple of those, and also some snapshots I've taken recently I like..
(This last one is of my men watching the Super Bowl. Notice Dylan has his feet up, and a beverage in hand? Boys will be boys.)
10 comments:
He is soooo cute! Isn't it amazing the things they start to learn after a year old? I mean, they learn a lot in the first year, but man... from one to two (and I'm assuming beyond...) they just blossom!
That's so cute that he does all those signs. We did a few with Porter (more, all done, please and thank you) but he turned out to be very verbal and was more into words than signing. He does still sign please (more like he's a gorilla swiping his chest... HAHA!) but that's it. We'll do signing with the next baby, though, because I'm sure in contrast to Porter, the next baby won't speak a word till he's two HAHA! Its awesome to have another way to communicate with little ones.
Oh, he is too cute! Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing!
Adorable pictures Jen!! He is so cute. I love that he likes flash cards - I did flash cards consistently with all my kids cuz I am THAT KIND OF MOM too! Keep it up - it's really good for him. And the signing - EXCELLENT!
Have a good weekend - it's going to be around 78 on Saturday - I guess I can put away my blanket and go outside for a bit - if it's not too chilly (cue violins) - HA!
Thanks for making me smile. Really. And thanks for sharing all of these. It was fun to think back to when Alexis did many of the same things. There is something absolutely magical about that age. I miss it (although, I am enjoying two more than I'll admit in mixed company)!
Oh yeah, Alexis and Dylan can be flash card buddies. She has the Signing Time ones (I bought them for daycare, but they recently sent them home), and demands that we go through them every single day. I complain, but secretly I love that she knows all of those words.
Awesome, awesome shots. What a gorgeous little boy! Love it! What kind of camera do you have? I'm in the market for a new one right now. Sounds like he really is brilliant. I just started with some of the signs -- should have before and Jonathan is learning some. If we have another baby I will start much earlier to help with the frustration of Jonathan trying to tell us something and us babbling at him like idiots trying to figure out what he wants. Again, just love the darling photos! Your little one is so handsome! OK, OK. Should I stop gushing? I just can't though -- he reminds me so much of Jonathan. Those cute smiles and bright eyes. Just too cute!
That is awesome about the signs he is learning. I am going to start with my daughter- she just turned 5months old. The pics are very, very cute!
Hey-he's doing great with the signing! That's a lot for his age, more than the twins had at that age and they have a sister who signs as her first language! Excellent job! You might like the sign language flash cards that we have, they're from Sign Babies, http://www.signbabies.com/ I puched a whole in each one and put them on a key ring key. Maggie will sit and flip through them FOREVER!
I love the pictures! The one with the jean jacket - too cute.
Wow, he is really cute - what a great post. Makes me sad that we didn't continue with signs for Charlie - but with two languages and only one parent signing I figured it might just be more confusing. I still make some signs, he just ignores me. Very impressed yb Dylan, what a star!
The fun stage! When they start learning words. I love signs. He is really a cute child! Love seeing his pictures and smiles.
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