Cute talker

You always hear about how routines and schedules are good for kids, especially young ones, as it lets them know what to expect and helps make transitions easier and such. I've been getting some concrete proof of this lately, now that Abraham is so much more talkative and expressive. We've never kept a strict "schedule" with him, just some general guidelines, like, he usually naps about 12:30-2:30 these days. But if I need to put him down a little earlier or even an hour or more late, then he's fine with it. Lately, though, if we're out in the morning, when I tell him that it's almost time to go, he says, "Go home, eat lunch, take nap." He knows the routine and likes it. He'll also tell me if he's ready to take a nap. When he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he says is "eat food." One day we had dinner much later than usual, around 7:30 when I came home from a meeting. For the next week, on days when I worked until 9, he wanted to eat as soon as I got home. Just one exception to our schedule made him think we had changed things up permanently. It's so interesting and cute.

His talking has really exploded this past month. He can seriously narrate events and experiences. When Anderson gets home from work, he asks Abraham what he did today, and Abraham will tell him pretty accurately. The super cute part is that, if he is repeating something that someone else said, he will use a really high-pitched voice. For instance, he might say: "Abraham color floor. Mommy [high-pitched] noooo." Cracks me up.

Other things that are funny:
If he is looking for something, he calls to it saying, "come out!"
He tells me to sit next to him while he's playing, and then says "closer."
He likes for me to pretend that a toy is sad so that he can do something to make it happy.
He's still writing songs but now also sings along to things that we listen to. I wish I could get this on video! But the camera/phone distracts him. Nothing warms my heart more, though, than hearing my 2 year old belt out: "Wilco will love you baby!"

Babies are people too

Recently I've starting giving Ham an after-bath massage with baby oil, and he LOVES it. It absolutely cracks me up the way he just lies there all relaxed, with a sleepy look on his face, while I massage him. I think part of what makes it so funny is that you don't see babies really holding still for things, but he does for this! Then last night, I decided to try a face massage and see what he thought. I kind of expected him to hate it, but he enjoyed it and started looking reeeeally sleepy. It was so sweet.

He did his first-ever actual person-like helpful thing today. My watch had fallen behind the bed, and when I pointed under the bed and asked him to get it, he crawled under there immediately, grabbed the watch, and brought it back out to me.

It's so amazing to me to watch his communication skills develop. Although he's not speaking at this point, he understands so many things, much more than we give him credit for, I think. Lately I have been testing his understanding by giving simple commands (which I normally do, but I've started including things that I don't expect him to actually know), asking him to find objects, etc. And it's incredible that he knows so much! I also love how affectionate he is, with me and his stuffed animals! He gives hugs and kisses when asked, and whenever he sees a stuffed animal, the first thing he does his hug and cuddle with it. Here he is cuddling with his cat.