Giraffe

I just learned the most remarkable little thing about Cale! He was on beyond tired this evening after I had washed up and was ready to start the final segment of his evening routine. I tipped him over to get kisses from Daddy and Karston, and Cale waved bye-bye to them. Then we walk away from the reading room and into the hall where Cale turns off the light for me. We go into his room where he again turns off the light. When I remember (unlike tonight), the nightlight lamp is on so we can see. Usually what happens next is that Cale hands me the Boppy, yanks his giraffe off the hook, and climbs up to nurse to sleep. This evening he stepped on Boppy and pointed to the door. I told him we were going to stay in his room. He climbed into the chair and looked at the night stand. I asked him if he wanted his juice, no reaction. I asked him if he wanted a tissue, no answer. He was just looking and murmuring Hmm in his thoughtful tone. Then he ran over and peeked up his crib, and motioned for me to look too. Nothing interesting that I could see (I was afraid that he had seen a mouse or a bug!). Then he moved Boppy and looked at the floor where it had been, at which point I realized that he hadn't seen something go under his crib, but instead he was looking for something ... where was his giraffe? Aha! He was still clinging to his giraffe last night when I put him to bed, and I hadn't put it back on its hook. I showed Cale his giraffe before putting it on its hook, and I got a huge grin! So apparently that silly giraffe schtick I started about two months ago (at first, giraffe would get to "nurse" while Cale was climbing onto Boppy) is now a critical part of his routine. Once he held his giraffe, he was ready to nurse, and he fell asleep right away.

Cale is still saying new words all the time. Yesterday he said Nose! when he grabbed my nose. Daddy heard Cale say food when asked if he were hungry. Cale was trying to open a jar that he held out to me when he said help, but even better than that, when I started to make Cale-allergy-safe chocolate banana brownies (they're more cake-like than you'd think, but Cale says he'll eat them; Karston only tried one bite), Cale ran after me saying help you! Yes, Cale really is that adorable. He only has a few words, and even fewer phrases, but one phrase is a very sincere help you! And he knows the difference between asking you to help him, and asking to help you. And that's just one day's worth of new words. He doesn't use all his new words on subsequent days, but given that he understands everything we say, I think his vocabulary's (going to be) fine.

Preschool Parent-Teacher Conference

I was really surprised that parent-teacher conferences start in preschool, and that all of us parents just quake when the preschool director says she wants to see us. It's preschool! Lighten up! I think we're all scared of her because she's right, and she's honest (by which I also mean refreshingly direct). This conference was individualized, and for the parents of rising kindergarteners.

In this parent-teacher conference, Ms Hardee said Karston's fine motor skills are outstanding (we both laughed because that's so obvious, but it's on the skills list). Karston should practice drawing top-to-bottom and left-to-right to prepare for writing. He also needs to be able to work on an activity without individual attention. He does solo craft activities at home while I make dinner, but at preschool he won't draw without an adult coaching to him. Almost everything else, he's in good shape to do well in kindergarten, and to do well on the end-of-year tests (like the face drawing test).

I am still offended, just in general, not about his preschool, that little kids (K-2) get actual factual homework! I don't think I can face assigning "homework" to Karston, although that would count as kindergarten preparation. I think he should get outside and play too!

Phrases

Yesterday's new word was book. Cale walked up to the bookshelf with children's books, pointed, and said Books!

Today he had two-word phrases for us. I asked him rhetorically, Who needs a diaper change?; he looked me in the eye and said I do. I was so impressed, I made him say it again for Daddy even though he gave me this look of "you heard me the first time, so what's your problem?" Several times this afternoon after grabbing his juice sippy, he announced I juice before sucking down some juice.

Pediatrician

I noticed we hadn't scheduled an 18-month checkup at Cale's previous checkup, so we went this morning. Cale is now 33 inches tall, just 4 inches shorter than Karston although Karston looks taller than that. Cale weighed 23 pounds, 0.8 ounces with a hat size of 19 inches. (Those specs are 50th percentile, except his weight is the 10th percentile on my charts. That seems odd given how much he eats and how round his belly is, so I don't think he really should weigh any more.)

He got a mostly clean bill of health, except that he had some fluid behind his eardrum. It's not an ear infection, but if it doesn't drain on its own, we need to do something about it. Not only does that fluid increase his chances of an ear infection, it also muffles his hearing. Muffled hearing could explain why he hasn't been talking as much (if he can't hear well, he doesn't know what language sounds to imitate!), and since that's a skill he should be working on now, we may need to clear his ears for him. I suspect he started talking less when his ears filled up, and I am looking forward to that road block removal.

His doctor wanted to see his ears in a couple weeks. Since at his age he gets his flu shot in two doses a month apart, we'll do both follow-up items in a month.

Blow It Out

Now that we're past Halloween, Daddy and Karston brought in the daddy pumpkin, took off the press-on face pieces, and carved it. When they were done, they put two LED "candles" in it, set it on the kitchen floor, and turned off the lights. Cale walked over to see what was going on. Oh, he saw the pumpkin! He immediately got on his belly in front of it and elbow-walked until he was nose-to-nose with the pumpkin. After studying it intently, Cale went "puff" on the LEDs. He was sure they were candles, and Karston's birthday candles made a huge impression on him. He spent quite a while trying to blow out these candles. (We didn't have these LED candles that you can blow out.)

Tip Toe

Cale's done this a few times in the past week: he says tip toe and then walks around on his tippie toes with a huge grin.

Word of the Day: Apple

Cale was listening to me when I told Amy last Wednesday that he was talking less now because he was so effective at pointing and grunting. (Karston often translates his cries. He'll calmly say, Cale wants juice, like he did this morning. Karston's usually right, too.) The very next day, Cale ran up to me with a plastic fish and said FISHIE several times very clearly. Cale also said pat, pat, pat à la Little Einsteins while patting himself shortly after that. I'm sure he knows I want him to learn to talk.

Yesterday at the grocery store, Cale pointed to the hot dogs and said emphatically Haa Daww. Trailing consonants need not apply, but that was hot dog. He said it again when we gave him hot dogs for dinner last night too.

This evening at Opa and Grammy's while I was holding him, Cale said APPLE! as soon as I picked up an apple. He only took a few bites, but he said apple at least as many times as he chomped on the apple.

For a long time, Cale's vocabulary was in a holding pattern with Mama, Dadda, juice and okra (favorites), Emma (our dog), toy, and the poly-functional this. Then he added Here go, shoe, a mumbled version of Toodles and Cheers when watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, cracker (replacing most consonants with t's for tatter; like most small children, he's better at vowels), and then Up there, but not much more.

Now new words are popping up! Fun!