More Words Yet?

Canon is finally starting to actually imitate our words.  Most of the time he doesn't really get the pronunciation quite right... or even close... but it's fun to see that he's trying to figure it out.  Recently I've heard him try to say the following words:

triangle, bicycle, thank you, kangaroo, bird, shoe, cheese (also attempting the sign) and wall

Another thing I find to be a really good sign of his understanding language is that when I tell him to "ask nicely" he will do the sign for "please" and shout "PEAS!"  He's also understanding when we tell him "no" for something that he wants to do.  He gets upset and starts to cry, but he knows that we're not letting him do it when we just tell him.  Discipline is going to be a challenge, but at least I know he will understand what we're telling him.

Such as this afternoon when he picked up a crayon, smiled up at me and pointed to the wall.  As he was walking over to his favorite section of colored-on wall, I sternly told him that it was not okay to draw on the wall.  Pointing to his beloved artwork, I told him that he wasn't allowed to do that.  He started crying and I could tell that he really wanted to, but he understood and was easily consoled and distracted with something else.

(Yeah, he's taken to drawing on the wall.  At least when he does it, it's always in the same spot.  That way when we move out in a month, there will be only one spot they'll have to paint due to his artwork instead of all over the place.  I think there are about 5 different colors there now.  Ugh!  Mom Dahl, I think it may be wise to invest in some butcher paper to put on your walls to protect them while we stay at your house.  You just never know what these little kids are capable of doing within the blink of an eye!)  ;0)

Oh, and one more random fun fact... about a month ago Canon had his 18-month check-up.  Apparently he's only gained a few ounces over the past 3 months.  Of course, the doctor wanted me to come back in a month (I think next week now) to check his weight.  I felt like I was getting pretty good at getting him to eat and everything.   For the past few days he just doesn't seem to ever want to eat anything at all.  He barely takes a few bites at any meal time.  He snacks alright, but not great.  He just is not interested in food.  No wonder he's not gaining any weight... but it's not like there's a whole lot more I can do for him.  We offer him foods that he likes, several times a day... he just doesn't want to eat.  (I think he's teething right now, so that could have something to do with it.)

Today I went through some of his old clothes to find shorts for him.  He still fits into his 6-month size shorts.  I was about to buy him some more because the weather is getting too hot for pants, but I guess I don't have to.  Can you believe he's so skinny that at 19 months he's wearing 6-month size?  He's too tall for that size pants, but the shorts still look perfect on him.  Am I the only one amused by this fact?

What's He Getting into Now?

Just a few images I thought you might like to see:

I let him play in the driver's seat once, and that's apparently been a mistake!!
 He hates being teased with the chance to sit up front and then brought in the back to his car seat.

Teaching him early!! :)
(Whenever I try to clean, he refuses to let me do it alone. )

Always wants to be the big kid, trying on Daddy's shoes.

Learning to walk a mile in someone else's shoes?

Walking in Daddy's shoes is so much fun.

So proud to show you his new masterpiece... wait for it....

Look, Mom!  Isn't it beautiful?  (Sure, Canon...if it weren't on the WALL, I'd love it!)

 It's been pretty warm lately, so I let Canon do one of his favorite past-times: spraying himself with the spray bottle.  I took off his shirt so he wouldn't be so wet, but then it ended up staying off the rest of the morning.

Here's a cute video of him spraying himself. 

 I have to say that I love the intensity he shows in this video.

I wish this was more centered, but I still think it's adorable.

It's been super hot, and our AC was having issues, so I let him run around without his shirt.
 I thought the whole look was just adorable.

I see that little belly and wonder how he can be too light!

Yea for smiles!

What, Mom?  I'm just looking at my shapes book.

Here's another video showing that Mark and I are teaching Canon some bad habits.

Sprinklers Rock!!

So, the other day was a bit on the warm side, and I was trying to come up with something to pass the time with Canon. I had washed the car not that long ago, and I know how much Canon liked to play with the hose... so I set up the sprinkler in the back yard to let him run around and play.

You can see in the video that Canon likes to shout "Go!" I love the look on his face when the water is splashing on him. I wish I had a better camera angle on that.

Playing in the Sprinkler

On other news, Canon seems to be improving in his speech, and I've not had him assessed by a speech pathologist. He's showing all the signs of progression I was told to look for, so I don't know why his doctor insists that he really should have more words than he has. So far he's gotten really good at following commands, practically understands everything we say to him... he just doesn't use his words very much. You can tell he's in that really frustrated stage where he really wants to communicate but doesn't really know how to yet. He's been throwing more tantrums lately, but I'm hoping he will learn how to use his words soon enough to tell me what he wants.

Canon's repertoire:
Signs he can use (if he wants to or is prompted to use):
more, drink, please, thank you, milk, again

Words he can say clearly and correctly:
uh-oh, no, eye, go, hi (sometimes), knee (used once)

Words he uses but doesn't say perfectly:
ball (by far his favorite word- uses it pointing at every circle he sees), Dad, echo (pronounced "gecko"), moon (pronounced "mooo"), nose (pronounced "no"), keys (pronounced "gee"), bye (pronounced "buh" while opening and closing his hand at himself), star (pronounced "darr")

Words he has attempted but doesn't really come that close:
sun (pronounced "ss ss ss"), ear, pickle, thank you

Animal sounds he'll imitate:
elephant, cow, dog, cat, parrot, monkey, lion/tiger/bear (all the same sound- includes hand motion), snake, rabbit, frog, duck (includes hand motion), fish, sheep, owl

Body parts he can identify:
hair, ear, eye, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, hands, fingers, elbow (working on perfecting that one), foot, toes, belly button, knee (working on perfecting that one too)

Some simple cute things he can do when asked (if he feels like it)
fold his arms when it's time for prayers, kiss your cheek, go up the steps and down the slide all by himself, high-5 and knuckle bump ("bones"), blow kisses and wave good-bye, point to almost whatever you ask him to while reading a storybook

He's so smart, but he's just taking his sweet time to decide to actually talk!

Easter Post (Better Late Than Never)

This year was the first Easter where Canon participated in the festivities.  We were planning on attending an Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before Easter, but the forecast was for rain all day long.  So, the lady in charge switched it to Friday instead.  The weather was awesome; I had Canon go down for an early nap and picked up Mark from work a couple hours early, and we all had a really fun time.  

Mark helped Canon dye an Easter Egg.  It was a beautiful bright blue, and Canon did not want to let go of it for the entire party.  He wouldn't even drop it to pick up another egg during the hunt.  In fact, he would have one egg in each hand and wouldn't grab any new ones to put them in the basket.  Behold:

See the blue egg in his right hand?

Refusing to put the eggs in the basket...

Trying to take someone else's eggs...

Enjoying a donut hole... Note the right hand stained blue!

After all the eggs and candy and other treats, his favorite part was the swing set!

 Canon also seemed to enjoy his first Easter Basket.  Thanks to the stuff sent by Grandma Dahl (Mark's mom), the candy Mark and I got, and the stuff from the Easter Egg Hunt (which we didn't realize we were getting, otherwise we wouldn't have bought our own candy), he had a really full basket. 

 Thanks for the outfit too, Grandma.  Canon looks super cute for church these days!

Look at all these eggs full of candy!!

Ooh!  I'm so excited!

Teeth + Words = Happy Mommy

That's right.  I'm so happy for those little molars to pop through.  Canon has been a much better eater lately.
Sometimes I can't get him to eat because he's being picky, or obviously not hungry when I thought he would be.  But he eats chicken, ground beef, and even cooked veggies now!  Oh, I'm so stoked about this!  YAAAYYYY!!!!  :-D

Oh yeah... does "uh-oh" count as a word?  Canon has totally mastered the intonation and timing of when to say "uh-oh!"  Alright, well if you don't really count that as a real word, then how about "eye" when pointing to his own eyes or to a picture of an animal?  I was hesitant to consider it because it's really only one phoneme- alright, so it's a diphthong... but it's still the appropriate sound associated with the appropriate thing.  In addition to that, Canon has now learned the word "no" and uses it frequently.  Any yes/no question that you ask will be answered "no" even if the answer really is "yes."  So far it hasn't gotten annoying, but I'm sure it will soon enough.

Needless to say, I'm really happy that he has these few words.  They may not be "milk" or "juice" like the doctor said it would be, but he has found a way to communicate what he wants.  He knows the moon and can point it out in storybooks and the sky, shouting out "moooo!"  He's been saying "bah" for a long time referring to a ball, and I think he's only closed the "L" once.  I wonder how long it will be until he perfects that word.  One time I was in the bathroom and Canon came up to me and said "hi!"  I hope that word comes more often soon.  He also has signs for "more," "please," and he used to do "milk" and "drink" but does those less often now.

Some of his newest adorable tricks are as follows:

-blowing kisses (He refuses to actually kiss our cheek now.  He even pushes away and runs away when we ask for one, but he'll blow a kiss, no problem!)
-throws diapers away (He loves to take his dirty diapers and bring them all the way up the stairs to his diaper pail.  I usually have to drag him away from the diaper genie.)
-gets shoes/jacket to go outside (He knows that putting these items on means that he can go outside, and will either love to go get them, or hate it- depending on whether he has to get in the car or not.)
-pointing out pictures (I've been trying to ask him to point out more things in his storybooks to see what he knows.  Quite often he surprises me with what he knows.  Other times I find that if I teach him one item, he'll be able to point that same thing out the next time we read it.  He's so smart!)

Sorry there are no pictures, but I need to go make dinner now.

Little Update on the Little Dahl-ling

So Canon was pretty touchy a few days back, and I've come to learn that he is growing molars on all four quadrants on his gums.  YAY...I mean, poor little guy!  But seriously, I'm so glad that he'd finally getting in those molars.  I'm hoping that it will help him to be better eater.  So far, my hopes haven't dashed yet.  Yesterday he did a pretty good job eating (for him anyways).  He actually ate dinner last night (a ham casserole with chunks of ham, broccoli, peppers, and hash-brown potatoes) after having a pretty good appetite the rest of the day too.  I was so happy about it because he ate a good portion.  I had to feed it to him for him to eat more, but that part I can deal with.  Oh...I really am glad for those little molars.  I can handle a touchy kid for a few days if it relieves a bit of this whole stress on his diet.

Another thing I'm so excited about is his language development.  No, he still doesn't have any words like he should, but I've seen a lot of progress over the past couple months.  He has reached the jargoning stage (I think) where he babbles on in his own language, and he can understand and follow simple commands.  The animal sounds was just the beginning of it, but his comprehension has seemed to really boom.  I'm expecting to actual words to be coming really soon.  Stay tuned for further updates in this category.

Oddly enough, today Canon has not been as active as he usually is... but here are a few shots of Canon just being a kid... doing what he does best... getting into stuff.

   

Favorite Past-times

Canon is now 16 months old, and no matter how much of a handful he gets, he is still my adorable little man.  I took him back to the doctor for a follow-up on his head growth.  All's fine and dandy in that department.  His weight is up to 21 lbs. 11 oz., so he's still a lightweight, but not too much to worry about.  As far as his language is concerned, there hasn't been too much improvement in word-usage.  However, I have reason to be hopeful. 

Canon has started to imitate animal sounds.  So far he can tell you the sounds made by the lion (tigers make the same one), the elephant, the snake (a close approximation to the sound I do), rabbit (tries to do what I do, but not very good at it, but he knows what it is), currently working on perfecting the parrot, cat, monkey, and cow.  I feel he will soon get to the dog and sheep too.   His all-time favorite is the elephant.  In fact, every time he sees an elephant in his books he buzzes his lips doing his imitation of the sound.  I can even ask at random what the animal says and he'll answer... so this is progress.  Just recently he learned where his belly button is too.  I thought that most kids start pointing to body parts earlier than this, but he just never seemed too interested.  I try to name all the body parts in the bath so that he knows what they are, but I never really tried to teach them outside of that, so I guess it's my fault.  So, we'll be working on body parts too.

I thought I ought to show what Canon has been up to lately so you can all see how busy this little guy really is.  Some of his favorite activities include:

Running after his bath to Daddy before Mommy can get a diaper on him.  Is it becoming a ritual that he runs around naked for a few minutes after bath-time?

Hamming it up for Mommy's camera (holding still long enough to get a great shot is a different story!)

climbing...

...as high as he can get

Spinning

Dancing to music on tv

Dancing when there isn't even music playing

I love how he waves good-bye to himself that the end of this video.

Playing with this spray bottle...EVERY CHANCE HE GETS.

Like here

and here

Playing with Mommy is definitely still among his favorite things to do.

I can't get enough of this handsome little man.