Luke has been very verbal lately, sometimes he talks low and very loud like this...
Other times he talks way up high, like this...
He loves it when I let him play with the phone and he knows now that you are supposed to put it to your ear to talk in it, not just hold it in front of you, so he grabs the phone from me whenever he can and then shoves it up towards my ear and then I am supposed to talk. Usually I say something like this... "Hello??? Who is it??? Aunt Becca! Hi aunt Becca!!! How are you? Are you playing video games with uncle Joseph? What is Mosely doing? Is he barking?" etc. Usually when I say "Aunt Becca!" he gets this huge grin on his face and gets very excited. So sweet!
He has also started to try to make animal sounds when we read books together that have animals in them. Mostly they all sound the same and he is most consistent with Doggy sounds. Usually it comes out "whoo, whoo!" very high pitched. Once in a while he will try to imitate my inflection for other animal sounds, like a kitty's meow.
He is also very intent on being independently mobile and exploring new ways of moving.
This is a toy from Mimi and Pawpaw, so far he really likes to stand on it and kind of rock his body back and forth to get it to move a bit, or just sit in it and play. Thank goodness he hasn't fallen yet but I am sure it won't belong before he rocks it just a little too hard.
Two other things he really likes to do lately are spit, as seen below, and he has learned the sign for lights! I think he understands some of our other signs that we use but other than shaking his head no this is the first sign he has ever used regularly himself. It started about a week and a half ago and he still loves using it. Most of the other signs I use regularly are more useful than fun, like milk for nursing and bed for when he wants to sleep, so maybe that's why he doesn't use those, he just really likes lights.
These next pics are from a short outside excursion, short because he wouldn't hold my hand and he desperately wanted to walk on the street! He is getting really fast but the sidewalks down our street are really broken and uneven and I was terrified that he would fall and I would have to take him to the emergency room for stitches since he refused to hold my hand at all.
(well, these sidewalks look ok but the ones on the other side of our house, which is where I took him next so that he wouldn't always be going straight towards the busy street, are awful.)Today we did something special and went to visit my great grandma. We haven't gone much because it is really hard for me to get up early enough to go after having worked all night, and she hasn't been awake any of the times we have made it out recently. Lately though she has stopped eating and her children made the decision not to force her to eat but to let her go if that was what she wanted. Interestingly enough after not eating for a few days she woke up and for the past few days she has been very alert and clear. I'm not sure what exactly is going on inside of her but this has happened before and all of the sudden she was alert and wanting to eat again, so who knows what will happen this time. Either way we are all enjoying spending time with her. She was so clear and remembered all kinds of things while we were there. She smiled and said she only had a little pain, not too bad. She gave us each kisses and told us she loved us and she sang! Time with her like this is sooo precious.
In other news there is a breastfeeding conference coming up in March that I am looking forward to, one that I can get continuing education credits for! My parents are going to visit my sister in Vermont for the first time, I am so jealous! And Luke's birthday is coming up, not sure how we will celebrate yet so leave me a post if you have ideas for a fun party for a one year old and a bunch of adults!
