Progress!

We knew how to start potty training with the second child. Before we started, we explained to Cale what we were doing when we were in the bathroom. (He was most interested watching Karston.) This time we knew just to put Cale on the little potty (just start!, by 18 months), and from Karston's pre-school director, we knew that M&M's make the best reward. Cale lets us know when he's ready for M&M's by shaking the jar, and then he runs over to sit on his potty. After a while of that, we've worked up to no clothes on his bottom when he's on the potty. (We started with Cale fully dressed, just to get him to accept sitting there. He didn't like it one bit at first, but M&M's got past that.) But this evening after bath, Cale made potty training progress! Yes, he used the potty! He knew he was doing it too (that grin was unmistakable), but I don't think he can go on demand yet. Still, knowing that he's doing it, and doing it in the right place in the bathroom is a big step!

Cale also has two molars just coming in, one left and one right, one upper and one lower, so he chews constantly. He's also fairly proficient at waving bye-bye now, and will sometimes even blow you a kiss too.

The most distinct word that Cale says is tickle, and yes, he wants to be tickled when he asks that. Some days he even shows off the new words that he has picked, like walking over to one corner of our kitchen, picking one up, and saying basket!

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.

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.

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!

Mama!

Cale went to a car show late this morning with Karston, Daddy, Opa, and Grammy. When they came home for naptime, on the final turn before our driveway, Cale started chirping Mama! Mama! Mama! Of course, once he saw me, he ran off to play with toys, but I heard he was glad to come home to Mama.

Here Go

As you know, small children love when they know what comes next. This evening when Daddy got a beer, Cale happily ran to get a beer huggie. (That's what comes next, Daddy gets a beer then he puts it in a beer huggie.) When Cale ran back to Daddy holding up the beer huggie for him, he distinctly said Here go. More words! Cale is so expressive with pointing and grunting that I wasn't sure when he was going to expand his vocabulary. He seems to pick up more from adult conversation than I would expect, but he doesn't seem to want to contribute to the conversation yet. He's happy swinging from the refrigerator handles to let us know he wants juice, and he's happy pointing to the TV screen when he wants to watch a cartoon to wind down. Who needs to talk? So I was thrilled that he had something to say!

Water

This morning, Cale could hardly wait for me to get out of the shower. He took one step into the shower, but wasn't thrilled that his foot got wet. We know talking to young children builds their language skills, so I had a conversation about it. Look at all that water in here! And it got your foot wet, I'm sorry. Oh, where did all that water come from? Cale looked up at me very seriously, somewhat quizzically, and pointed to the shower head.

Yes, yes that is how the water got into the shower stall. I'm not going to explain rhetorical questions to my fifteen-month-old, but nor did I think he was following me that closely. Cale understands a lot more of what we say than we give him credit.

Helpful

This evening while we were getting ready for bed, I said Cale and I would sleep on the air mattress tonight. (The room's bed is just too hard for my hips and side-sleeping.) Daddy said, Oh, we'll need to inflate the air mattress some more.

Cale understands a lot more of what we say than we give him credit. He toddled right over to the air mattress as soon as he heard that, he put his mouth to the valve, and he puffed!

Oh.

Uh-hunh

Cale seems to use the same baby words that Karston used, so Ha-da means play and Ah-da means again (so if you're playing with Cale and some aspect is really great, he says ah-da and we do that again; ha-da is to get you to start playing).

This morning before lunch, we went to the beach. (We thought about going to the Azalea Festival in Wilmington, but the kids didn't seem like they were ready for it. So we went to Emerald Isle instead.) Mostly I kept Cale in the shade since he can't run in the surf but watching the older kids would tempt him to try as hard as he could. However, when Nadia, Tasha, and Karston switched from chilly surf to sand castles, Daddy brought Cale over to join the fun. Daddy asked Cale, Ha-da? Ha-da? Cale gave him a wondering look, said Uh-hunh quite distinctly, and with a big grin, started playing with his daddy. First step from declarations to conversations!

We had lunch at The Bogue House (very tasty food, although Karston announced he doesn't like sweetened applesauce which is good news in my book) and met Rusty the town manager. He's a very happy person, good lunch company.

Cale's First Word

While hiccuping this morning, Cale said his first word! (I'll say that again later when Cale means to say the word.) He very clearly said Okra! We wouldn't be surprised if Cale likes fried okra, a good southern dish, as much as his big bother and his father, but it's way too early to find out.

Not at 5AM

On the list of things parents never want to hear their children say, this isn't too bad and I'm sure I'll hear worse. Nevertheless, this is not what I wanted to hear Karston say at 5:18 AM this morning!

I woke up when I heard him call Mama! Mama!, and I hopped out of bed. In the shadowy hall, I saw Karston reaching out for me, and then he said what I didn't want to hear ...

Mama, I'm awake!

Yep, he was wide awake, and according to Daddy he had been since 3 AM! Ugh. I feel a bit disoriented after last night. I wonder if he'll let us sleep in this weekend ... probably not. I can take a nap with him, but if he continues to wake up after only 5 to 6 hours of night-time sleep, that might signal the end of the afternoon naps.

On the other hand, Karston is getting better at communication. He said exactly what he meant, quite clearly, even if I didn't want to hear it.

Toddler

Pronouns

Karston understands pronouns!

While I was changing his diaper, he was reaching for a teddy bear almost out of his reach. Since he wasn't going to give up on his teddy bear grab, I moved his changing table closer to it. Karston gave me a startled look! I reassured him that the world was normal and said, I moved you. He looked at me, nodded, and said, you moved me. Notice how he switched the pronouns properly? Often he'll repeat our sentences, and we weren't sure if he were just aping us, or if he understood what we were saying and agreed by repeating. Since he understands pronouns, now we think he understands even more than we thought.

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I Got You, Dada!

It's really hard to say anything definite about Karston's vocabulary right now. He will often repeat words, seemingly with the knowledge of what he's saying, but I'm not sure he'll retain it. For instance, when we ate out Saturday, I asked if he wanted french fries. He said French fries! quite happily, and then ate four. (Hey, that's a meal-time success with Karston!) But does he remember today that french fries are called french fries? I don't know. (He's only eaten them four times in his life, so it hasn't been reinforced either.)

On the other hand, he is stringing together words that he knows into sentences. Some concepts don't need complete sentences. Dada! Juice! will accomplish what he wants. However, he said the same phrase yesterday and today while grabbing his father's leg after chasing him down: I got you, Dada! I'm sure he knows what he's saying when his timing is that accurate. And of course, in that sweet little voice, you know what he's saying is right on target on more than one level.

So the vocabulary may be hard to pin down, but he has advanced from words to sentences. Add a few more words, and we'll really have some communication!

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Two Chocolate Doughnuts!

Most of Karston's words are much more distinct now. He used to say Ah-sha but now he says Outside. Okra (ahk-rah) and ice cream (ice cweem), two favorite foods, are more distinct now. A couple of words are still baby talk, though. He still says Ah-dah for again, and I heard Hah-dah for play recently. He still says shah-shah for chocolate.

This morning, Karston ate chocolate-covered doughnuts. The chocolate coat keeps them fresher longer, too. When he went back for seconds, the tastiest doughnuts were on the bottom, of course. Karston dug out two doughnuts, one for each hand, and looked at us with pure delight! Holding both arms out, one chocolate-covered doughnut in each hand, with a huge smile, Karston clearly said, "Two Shah-shah" before plowing food in his face.

We caught him counting to three a couple months ago. He walked up to the dishwasher, and tapped one - two - three doors past the dishwasher before opening the cabinet door to the trash can. If you're taller than the kitchen counter, the trash is in the first cabinet to the right of the sink; but if you're Karston's height, you need to count to the third cabinet door past the dishwasher. Karston really did seem to be paying attention to Sesame Street when the number of the day was two, and it seemed to soak in. He's had the concept of counting to two and three for a while, but now he knows the word for two is two! We were impressed!

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Daddy's Boy

Ever since Will told Karston that the burgundy phone was for play (because it is at Will's house), Karston has used the burgundy phone in our bedroom as his phone. We had to unplug it, and leave it unplugged. This morning when Daddy had been at work about half an hour, Karston picked up that phone and had a one-sided conversation in English, not in Toddler's Tibetan! He picked up the phone and said, Hello? Hello? Da-da? Yeah, Da-da. Da-da come home!

He really loves his Daddy.

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New Skills This Month

Words:
outside (ah-shah is very popular), apple (refined, ah-pull), noooooo, ice cream sandwich (ah-sha cweee sah-wih; now you know how he's staying over 20 pounds), Meeree (Mary, my mother who takes care of him Tuesday through Thursday, sometimes mee-mee, which is fine, or mee-nee, that makes us laugh)

Karston also started combining words. For instance, after he announced he wanted to go outside this weekend, he moved on to "Dada, shoes" because he knows Daddy puts on shoes before taking him outside.

He still says Emma (our dog), kitty, chocolate (sha-sha), okra, juice (shooos), water (wa-wa), cheese (cheees), shoes, nose, eyes, ears, belly and belly button (bewee bee), mama (and ta-ta when he wants to nurse), and of course dada.

Tricks:
throwing a ball (pretty well), carrying two large balls for throwing, digging in the sand (and pouring it in Emma's food or on Emma), drawing, stacking everything in sight (groceries stacked 4 high before sliding over), kissing us when he's happy, and telling us to kiss each other

When one of us is carrying Karston, and we're close, he'll get a sly grin, put his hands to the back of our necks, push our faces together, and wait for us to kiss. When we kiss, he gets a huge delighted grin of yeah, I did that and it's great, and he giggles happily when we kiss him too. Like we keep saying, Karston is all love, all the time.

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Word of the Day: Noodle

Karston's new word today is noo-noo. I boiled ziti for dinner (yummy! but this asiago-spinach chicken sausage has made everything yummy, and I used half the meat and pasta of the recipe), and Karston liked it. We told him those ziti were noodles, and he said noo-noo back.

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Emma

When we took our dog for a run around the yard and lake this evening, Karston pointed at her several different times and said EMMA. That's her name! So Linus the cat is kitty (actually, Karston's stop sounds aren't as crisp as they used to be, so Linus is diddy now), but Emma the dog is now Emma.

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Chocly

Karston's new word this evening is chocly. In my mother's kitchen, he reached as far as he could for the out-of-reach jar of chocolate chips, and said Chocly! with that intense you-know-what-I-mean stare. He didn't get this from either of his parents, but Karston sure does love chocolate! (He's not allowed to have any chocolate after dinner / before bed.)

Last week, Karston helped my mother make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. By helping, I mean that he gobbled chocolate chips while she mixed cookie batter. He gave her a terrible look when she dumped all of his chocolate chips into the cookie dough, and then refused to eat any of the polluted chocolate chips that she pulled out of the dough for him. Of course, this week he's happily eating those same cookies, so I guess he got over it.

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