My Littlest Guy's a Keeper

My YS is starting to acquire more words these days. MS thinks it is a wonderful game to sit at the table and ask YS to say different words (some of his favorite ones to quiz on are: apple, butt, bird, love you, mama, dada, more, owned and "neeee" - which is my ES's favorite sneering sound and YS loves to imitate it). I'm often amazed at how well he communicates for a 16-month old. Even when he doesn't use words, I can figure out what he is trying to get across.

Moreover, he is becoming more firm about his wants and desires. If he wants to watch Barney he will bring me a Barney tape cover. If I fail to get up from the chair or couch immediately, he will begin to pull on me.

Tonight, my husband came into the front room and said, "YS wants to watch The Wiggles." Now, I have to admit, I am not a big fan of the Wiggles. We have never purchased, rented or borrowed one of their tapes. However, on some of the Barney tapes, they advertise Wiggles tapes in the previews. I questioned whether YS really wanted to watch The Wiggles, or merely wanted a Barney tape. My husband said, "Well, ask him?" So, I said, "Do you want to watch Barney?" He shook his head, no. I asked, "Do you want to watch The Wiggles?" and he said "Uh-huh!"

So, we pop in a tape and find the Wiggles preview. This particular one shows them singing a song which goes, "Come on and do the monkey, ooh-ooh, ahh-ahh, ooh-ooh, ahh-ahh, do the monkey ...." ad nauseum. I was sitting at the computer and began to sing along. YS came over to the computer chair and patted my arm and began making a frustrated groan. I stopped singing. His groan stopped. I looked at my husband. I started singing again and got the same reaction. I said, "Do you want me to stop singing?" and he said, "Uh-huh!" Please tell me that isn't starting already!

He also loves to read. He is constantly tugging on my pants leg and holding a book up to me. I sit down and he backs into my lap. His favorites are Barney books, Spiderman books and the Diaper David series by David Shannon (too cute, if you haven't already checked them out!). This afternoon, he wanted Daddy to read him a Barney book, but Daddy was just getting ready to eat his lunch. I offered to sit down and read it. He would have none of that. He tugged and tugged until finally my husband sat down and read him the Barney book.

Another of YS's favorite pasttimes, is playing with motorized robots, the talking Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman or Superman and pushing the buttons to the remote-control Spiderman rescue vehicle. He will spend twenty to thirty minutes sitting and playing with these (something my older two never seemed to be able to do without someone else playing along).

And finally, on my list of why my YS is a keeper. This morning he woke at 5 a.m. and would not go back to sleep. Finally, the smell alerted me that he had a blow-out diaper. Within a half hour of changing that he began to vomit. Never a whimper. A little clingy, but very reasonable. He even stood over the toilet, when I tried to explain to him that we would try to catch the pukies in the toilet the next time. I believe he would have done it, had there been a next time. Thankfully, he seemed to get over the bug quickly. He has been a gem all day (despite a morning flu bout). Now, the other two, today ... let's not go there, shall we!