GRR...Growl

We have been trying to teach Jack about various animal noises. Every book we read has animals, so we stop, point to the animal and make the noise. You can imagine our excitement when he saw a bear and made a deep throaty growl. This excitement was fairly short lived because soon after he saw a sheep and made the exact same noise. Well, I suppose a baa and grr could be the same to a one year old. We turn a couple more pages and come to a goldfish, and if you hadn't guessed already, he growled yet again. We were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with the sheep, but a goldfish.... I didn't know how to rationalize that one. We went through the book and tried again, but it ended up the same way. The next day I hear him growling away, I come into the room and he has two dinosaurs fighting it out. That makes sense because I too would make dinosaurs growl if they were fighting. So I say good job and tell him how smart he is. We go back to the books later that night and come to a frog, wait for it, he growls. So he hasn't mastered animal noises yet, but he knows that animals, at least some animals, growl.

In other Jack news: He is standing, but is not walking yet. He is daring to go further distances without the support of a wall or a couch, he just sort of lets go and falls with hands out to his next location. I just hold my breath and hope he doesn't fall flat on his face.




He has weaned... it is very bittersweet. Seven weeks ago he started nursing only once a day. Then three weeks ago that feeding became very sporadic. Finally, we come to this week and he hasn't nursed at all. I will miss it and miss snuggling up to him and feeling that close bond only nursing can bring. Yesterday we put whole milk in his cup and he just started chugging. I was relieved because I had heard it could be a little while before he took to cow's milk.

He is starting to give us the toy he is playing with, but he expects to get it right back. When he gives the toy to his friends and it isn't returned right away, he gets this confused look on his face, and then he takes it from them. He was just showing them how cool the toy is, and taunting them for not being able to play with it, he wasn't trying to share. At least this is my view on the situation. He has also taken to pushing. Yes, my sweet baby is pushing other babies. When they are in his way, they get a push, when they are annoying him, they get a push, and when mommy or daddy have their hand on something he wants, he picks it up and tries to move it out of the way. He is growing up.

He is also still loving books, which makes mommy and daddy so happy. Our reading ritual involves picking out a couple of books, lying down in mommy and daddy's bed, and getting all snuggled up in the blankets. Lately, I have seen him grab a couple of books from the night table or the bookcase and put them on our bed and try to get on the bed. It is so cute. When I see him do this I stop whatever I am doing to pull him on the bed and start reading. I love this time- I get to learn so much about him. I get to learn what he is interested in by the books he has me read every time we get in bed. Right now he still loves Brown Bear and Polar Bear, but he is also really interested in Goodnight Gorilla and this train book. It is an amazing time.

He has a birthday coming up so the next blog will probably involve birthday and doctor visit fun.