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.