Isn't he just the cutest?!

I could just eat him up :)

(This was when he would do this thing with his lips, sticking out his bottom lip and "sucking" on his top lip. After this photo was taken, he stopped doing it.)

He has come a long way

He may not be talking to us to communicate but he certain does communicate with us. He points at what he wants and goes "uh." He now shakes and nods his head when asked yes and no questions. Oh and he knows "all done" in baby sign language (however, he rarely uses it...he also masters skills, does them a few times and then moves on to mastering more). So it is fun starting to have "conversations" with him.

He also understands "time to go upstairs to bed/nap." When said, he turns to the stairs and starts to climb. If asked where his blankie and Juppy (Joseph's puppy) are: he will go find them. So besides starting to "talk" he is starting to listen and respond to what we say in ways that show us he understands what we are saying to him.

Joseph's first word...maybe, possibly, kind of, sort of....

Mike and I are not used to a nontalking baby at this age. At this age, Clara was speaking two word phrases and asking simple questions like "where's Bear?" Joseph has yet to really talk.

Very early on he started saying all the consonant sounds (baa, gaa, mama, dada, t, and even l). And he would just babble and babble all day. But no words. When Clara was nine months, she very clearly spoke her first word "Daddy." Joseph says "dada" and even "mama" but doesn't mean anything behind it. I don't count those as his first words.

But the other day, he picked up the book "I Touch" and brought it to me to read. Open to first page and it is a picture of a ball. I say "ball" very clearly. He says "ball" back (but lacked the "L" sound at the end). So I repeat ball and he repeats his version of ball. He turns the page and we come to "water." I proceed to say "water" and he, in his own version says "wawer" (lack of "T" sound).

I was starting to wonder if his hearing was off but I think this clearly shows it is not. He heard how I said the words and he repeated them as a 1 year old would say them. So I guess he really has said his first words.

Only thing, it also sounds like he has said "daddy" (but with no meaning really behind it). I am so trying to get him to say "mommy" (with meaning) so I can have a child say and use that word first (before the word "daddy.")

A first...the birds and the bees

Had my first real experience with the birds and the bees subject this morning. Clara asked me how babies get inside mommies' tummies. I started with well....

Then she went on to say "Adin Sousa at school says that they cut mommies' tummies to put the babies inside."

I said, "well they don't cut mommies' tummies." Then I proceeded to start explaining that mommies' have eggs inside them and I started to give an illustration using birds and how their babies hatch out of eggs. But then she moved on and was no longer interested in hearing anymore.

But had she wanted to listen more, I would not have said that human babies hatch out of eggs (and plus she knows that is not true, I wouldn't want her to think I tell her lies), I would have explained in terms she understands that a woman's egg is inside our bodies and a man is needed to fertilize the egg. And then the baby starts to grow.

A first anyway whether the whole subject was explained or not. Even a first with the simple fact that, she heard info from a kid at school. I can really see where some parents are coming from when they feel very strongly about teaching their kids sex education. I don't know if I exactly want my child to believe a woman's tummy is cut and then a baby is put inside. Of course, I am not going to sit down and teach my 5 year old all about the birds and the bees right now but I also don't want her hearing the incorrect information from kids at school.

This is also just funny...how these questions/subjects just start to happen and come up in a child's life.