Clicking

Now that Curly is approaching 2, it seems that things are clicking for him at a greater speed than before. He’s not yet at the point where he’s picking up 10 new words a day or anything like that, but he does pick up one or two or a sign here and there. His favorite new sign and word is “helicopter” (pronounced “Ca-ta” for copter, and signed like this). He is forever looking for things he knows and saying them. The other night, Nutella and I gave him some crayons which he wasn’t very interested in, but when she and I drew things he knows (like a banana, a dog or flower), he would happily point them out and say or sign them.

He’s much more willing and able to use a spoon and fork, although it’s a huge mess of course (see evidence below). He has begun answering yes or no questions, even if he doesn’t always mean it. We’ve definitely come to the point where the answer to most things is ‘no’ and then he tries to do or eat whatever he just turned down.

He has (and I hate to jinx it), very short-lived tantrums. Like 10 seconds of screaming, or simply throwing himself on the floor and sucking his thumb. I’d like to think this is in part because we address things immediately. He knows that screaming will get him either put on a step (which works pretty well these days), or put in his crib, so he usually gives up quickly.

He loves books more than anything else and is constantly searching for his favorites. I think we need some new ones! Unfortunately, he probably won’t start potty-training until he’s 3, but you can’t win everything. Still, we feel that he’s on the cusp of a learning explosion and it’s a really exciting thing to watch.