Nerding out on language development

Adin is in a really fun phase of language development, when he says new words and phrases everytime I turn around. I read this fall that during the language burst between 18 and 24 months, kids can learn a new word every 90 minutes! I think Adin is pretty close. He started saying, "Mormor" and "hotdog". He received an Elmo doll on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning he walked around calling Elmo and looking in boxes. Today he picked up a DVD case and said "Elmo World" (the name of the segment on Sesame Street that features Elmo). At lunch time, I heated up a hamburger and he started asking for a hot dog (or maybe he was trying to say hamburger!) When he saw me starting to heat one up for him, he started saying "thank you". It's funny how the words he's been saying for a while are crystal clear, but the new ones are fairly muffled. This was so nice to hear, partially because when Erik was one and a half, I know he could say those exact words! He called my mom and left a message saying "Thank you Mormor [for the] chocolate" I had to prompt him with each phrase, it's not that he could say four word phrases. So even though I work hard not to compare what each boy does at a particular age, it's nice when I know Adin's in the ballpark, at least!

Erik the snow bunny

Before I tell about Erik in the snow, let me tell you about Christmas morning. We looked out the front window. A bunny had tamped down a trench under our bench and was huddled under the bench, sheltered from the falling snow. Very cute. After the bunny hopped away, I put a carrot and some lettuce under there, but I haven't seen the bunny again.

Anyway, it's been fun to watch as each winter Erik is more playful in the snow. The first winter I didn't take him out much. When he was one, he was so small that when I bundled him up he couldn't move very well, and didn't know what to do anyway. Last year, Erik went out and played a little more, but then Adin was a baby so I couldn't really go out with Erik. I would send him out and watch from the window. He like shoveling but would shovel the snow from the snowbanks onto the sidewalk. Also, he refused to wear snowpants and that made it harder to play a long time.

This year, he has warm snowpants and boots and he loves to play outside. He'll ask if he can get bundled up. He still loves shoveling, but mostly has learned to shovel into the snowbanks. He just came in from outside and his cheeks are cold but his fingers are toasty warm. Yay!

Decoding One-Year-Old

Adin has been calling trains "ugg-ah" and saying "beep" for their noise. This puzzled me for about a month until I figured out why. When I push trains I say, "chugga chugga choo choo". Most little kids call trains "choo choo" but Adin picked up on the chugga part and it became uggah. Then we were reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book and Thomas always says, "peep peep" at the end. So I think that's why Adin says 'beep' for their noise. Now you too can decipher toddler speech!

Where is everyone?

The past week we have had family staying with us, sleeping in the basement and on a pull-out couch in the back room. Last night no one stayed with us. This morning after breakfast, Erik went downstairs, which he hadn't been allowed to do when people were sleeping down there. He came back up and tearfully asked me, "Doesn't any of our relatives want to stay with us?"

Christmas Program

The program went well. The 3 and 4 year olds decorated puppets to carry during "Los Posadas", the walking from inn to inn, asking for a room. Then they stood up front and sang "Away in a Manger". It was super cute. Erik did the actions and sang. A friend who was sitting closer to him than I was told Joe that Erik was even fairly on pitch. My favorite part may have been when he saw me sitting with my Kindergarteners and called out, "Mama!"

Adin was not impressed enough with his brother's performance to stay in worship. He went down to the nursery. He must be about to go through a growth spurt because he is eating like a football player. It's very funny. We'll give him a toddler sized plate of food. He'll eat it, then point to various things on the table saying, "more more". I'm pretty sure he ate more than any one of us at dinner tonight.

Maybe he needs some raisins

Since it got cold, Erik has had red, chapped lips. He licks them, which makes it worse. At first I tried to remind him not to lick, but it just frustrated him. He hates lotions, creams and everything I can think of. Sometimes I put stuff on while he is sleeping and hope he won't wake up. Yesterday, I did find a tube of lip balm which I tell him is lipstick and he has let me put it on him so far. The night before I was basically forcing him to let me put vaseline on his lips at bedtime and he was so frustrated. I asked him why it bothered him so much. He said, "it makes me feel not regular!"

Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel

Today after church I asked Erik if they practiced any songs for the Christmas Program. Um, he wasn't sure. I asked if they sang any songs about Baby Jesus. No, he didn't think so. pause. "I think we sang a song about the baby before Jesus." "What baby was that?" "I think his name was Messiah, or something."

Personal growth

On Saturday Adin started saying, "Erik". He was saying "eh" and I thought he was saying 'Erik' but Saturday he started saying "Eh-uk"! He will point to my seat in the car and say "mama", the passenger seat and say, "Papa", and Erik's seat and say, "Eh-uk". Today when we got back in the car after dropping Erik off at school, Adin pointed to Erik's carseat and said, "Erik school" (no r in Erik or s in school but still!)

Adin also began saying, "blankie" last week after he heard Erik saying it. He has a crocheted blanket that has been his favorite. Today when we were going to walk to the library, I asked Erik if he would like a blanket over his legs. While he was thinking about it, Adin said "bankie" so I went and got a quilt. No no no! A yellow quilt is not 'bankie', only the white crocheted blanket is 'bankie'. So he snuggled under his favorite blanket on the way to the library.

Erik has been showing new levels of restraint and maturity regarding his brother. Today while I was in another room I heard him ask Adin, "Can I play with that?" instead of just taking it away! Fabulous. And when they were in the double stroller on the way to the library Erik told me, "he just hit my head, but it didn't hurt." In the past he would have freaked out, even though it didn't hurt. Hooray for baby steps towards getting along.