word explosion!

within the last two weeks, charlie’s communication has definitely improved. he is consistently putting two words together and will repeat up to 4-5 words at once (very mumbled). he is a total parrot and will repeat any word that you say, which often makes me realize I need to start thinking hard before I speak. as he puts words together it is so funny to hear what he comes up with. here are a few of my recent favorites:

“yiyi…come!” (when he wants lily to come)

“yiyi…down!” (when he wants lily to lay down with him and his toys)

“mom…down….play” (when he wants me to sit down and play with him. he thinks he can order people around like we instruct lily)

a few days ago, he told me he had pooped and wanted to get changed (this is normal and has been going on for awhile). but on our way to the nursery for his change he looked at me and said “big…one”. at first I didn’t think I heard him right and I asked “what was that?”. he responded with “big…poop”. sure enough, he knew what he was saying and he was right.

this morning when I went to get him out of his crib, he held up his brown dog and said “little dog” and then when I was changing him he said “black…white…dog” (because he has another dog in his crib that is really brown and white). I was surprised he even knew how to communicate that.

here are some more favorites…he loves using the adjectives big and small/little.

“big…mama” (lets hope this one doesn’t stick, but I will probably only get bigger over these next 10 weeks).

the other morning, I mentioned to charlie that I was going to “hop in the shower”. he then proceeded to repeat me and follow me around while hopping at the same time. I then had to explain that I really didn’t mean I was going to hop in the shower, but rather I would walk very carefully in the shower and I would never hop while in the shower because that is dangerous. it didn’t make one difference. he continues to randomly look at me and say “hop…in the…shower?”

charlie is definitely learning that he can manipulate people by asking them for things. it mostly happens around bedtime. my mom started rubbing his back after putting him in his crib and he loves it (and also knows it delays bedtime for a few more minutes). so now he asks to be put in his crib and says “back” for you to rub his back. however, you can only rub his back for so long so then I say goodnight charlie, I love you and he will often say “night night mama” and then start frantically saying “back! back! back! hug! kiss! hold!”. I feel so bad having to leave the room (I still do) as he is asking for something so sweet.