Deciphering

This may or may not be our last post for a while...we are cancelling our internet until we can update our technology. I can still post from my phone but the editing is a bit of a bear. So is writing via a small touch screen. But, that's the way things go. No complaints here.

Before Comcast cuts us off, I wanted to share some fun videos. Russell is at this stage where not only does he seem to just "get it," but he can access the world like never before. Between climbing, talking, and manipulating objects, he's exploring as much of this wide world as he can. His memory is improving and he is connecting the dots like nobody's business. Just last  night I watched him put together a puzzle without any help whereas a few days prior it was really frustrating him. I still get sad that he is outgrowing some behaviors, but watching him pick up others is, quite simply, really cool.

His verbal skills are some of the most entertaining. Russell is constantly trying to use and say new words. There are many things he can communicate without a hitch and then there are many many more than leave both of us stumped. That must be so frustrating for him, because he really is trying, but our toddler translation skills are not as up to par, apparently.

This first video is of Russell at dinner the other night. If you can't tell from the video, he LOVES strawberries...only he doesn't call them anything close to that. Once we figured out what 'bila' meant, we were able to make him a lot happier. The instant he sees a strawberry carton while we are at the grocery store, he starts to practically shriek, "Bila!"  We've gotten to the point where we have to keep them away from the dinner table after he has eaten his veggies or protein because he'll refuse to eat (or talk about) anything else.

The next video is one I took when I thought my camera was on picture mode...it worked out perfectly, though, because it captured him saying his version of 'airplane.' He is very consistent about this word. Every time an airplane flies overhead, he smiles, points excitedly up to the sky and says, "Mungy!" He can say "apple and plenty of other 'A' words, but somehow 'airplane' and 'mungy' are homophones to him. Did I use that word right? I don't think so, but maybe you know what I mean. Watching it might make you a little motion sick, sorry about that.

And the final one is of Russell and his beloved ice water. It doesn't really have anything to do with language acquisition, but the way he breathes during the drinking process is hilarious to me. He doesn't do it quietly, that's for sure. Actually, it does illustrate something about his current developmental stage. At one point, he very concretely says, "Ice."  He tends to do that...when he sees or hears something that he knows the word for, he'll usually say it. So when he hears a dog, he says "Gog". When he sees someone in a hat, he'll say "Hat" etc. It's like what he used to do with the sign for lights. Only now he has that same fascination with fans..."Pan, pan!" he'll say. 

All right...good riddance crappy computer! Hopefully next time I publish from a computer it'll be from one that is not 7 years old. Although if the time it took us to decide on a phone is any indication on how long it will take us to decide on a new computer, it might take a while.