Words, words, the bird's got the word

From SoHum Perseid Shower

Xander is twenty-one months old now. Our pediatrician said we'd start seeing Xander's language explode, and it's happening. Just in the last week, he's said about two new words a day, and it's clear that his understanding of language is much more developed than his expressive skills.

Just this weekend, he added, "wie-ps" (two syllables, for wipes), "upsigh" (upside down), "muh plz" (more please) "out-sie" (outside). Other favorites are "ah-coh-coh" (avocado), "gac-gac" (grandma/grandpa) and all versions of mama and dada.

He's very self-directed in his play, and can entertain himself for a while. Everything-toast, socks, legos, turns into a car or airplane and gets pushed around with sound effects. He's also into rocks and dirt, and loves standing at the sink playing in the water. We just got him a plastic step stool, and he carries it around the house and places it in front of the sink, or next to something he wants to climb. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea, after all.

The other day, I wasn't paying too much attention to him while I was cooking dinner. He was saying "chee, chee" and walking around the kitchen. I had left the fridge door open while turning to do something, and he went in, opened a drawer, pulled something out and walked over to where I was chopping vegetables. Tiptoeing, he pushed it up onto the counter in front of me. A block of cheddar cheese. Of course.

Going back over the other postings, I see that a lot has happened since the March one. Micah did very well at the Reno interview, and was ranked second overall, but the first place candidate decided to take the job. He's applying again for other faculty positions this fall.

Xander's maternal grandmother, Dixie, visited two weeks ago to help out while Micah was in Australia for work. We did all kinds of fun things--Tilden Steam Trains, Little Farm, the Sonoma County Fair (where we lost a shoe), Stinson Beach. It was a great visit.

We also flew out to South Carolina to meet Xander's cousin Kat, who was born in February. We had a lovely time with family there, took several walks in the hot, humid weather, went to the Columbia Zoo (an excellent zoo), and had amazing barbecue with Uncle Steve's family.

We have no plans for travel in the immediate future, which is nice, since we've been cross country with Xander four times since he was born, to Albuquerque once, to Reno once, to Portland, Oregon twice, to Yosemite once, and to Humboldt at least half a dozen times. He's a good traveler, but recently started becoming susceptible to motion sickness, which may curtail any future travel.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Xander celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a yummy homemade corned-beef boiled dinner. He liked the beef, didn't so much like the green beans or cabbage.

Last weekend Xander flew to Reno with Mommy to meet Daddy, who was visiting UNR. Xander had his nose pressed to the plane window for takeoff; he loved watching the lights as we flew up into the sky. After he bored of that, he practiced moving the windowshade up and down, and tried--almost successfully--to remove it from the tracks that keep it in place. The plane was full, so a very nice 12-year-old girl sat next to us. Xander immediately fell in love with her. He was staring at her, reached out to touch her hand gently, and then when she smiled at him, he grinned and snuggled back into Mommy's lap.

Reno was sunny, cold, and surrounded by beautiful mountains. It also seemed really empty. Either everyone was inside gambling, or outside in the mountains skiing. We drove to Truckee the next day and snowshoed at Castle Peak with Xander in the backpack. Things didn't go so well--he refused to wear gloves, didn't get a good nap in the backpack, and started crying inconsolably after our lunch break, so we turned around prematurely. The last quarter mile, Mommy snowshoed back with a snuffly baby in her arms. As soon as we got to the trailhead, Xander saw lots of dogs and people and started smiling and talking.

This weekend Grammy Ellen and Grandpa Denis are visiting, and we're looking forward to seeing them and perhaps a fun trip to the beach or the steam trains in Tilden.

February Update

Xander looks suspiciously at his Dad, while holding his push-toy.

The little man is really beginning to walk around on his own, though he still reverts to crawling if he wants to get anywhere quickly. At nearly 16 months old, most of his cohort is already walking. We see his reticence as a sign of his laid-back, easygoing personality, and the fact that he has perfected crawling to a fine art. It is hard to keep up with him when he sprints on all fours across the floor, racing to the open refrigerator door to grab the caper jar before we get a chance to close the door.

He spends a lot of time figuring out how things work. He loves opening doors, fitting lids on containers, sorting his socks, pressing buttons on the electronic keyboard, locking and unlocking the car with Daddy's keys, and making calls to the Berkeley Police Department on Mommy's cell phone. He loves stacking blocks and has become quite the expert. He points to his head, ears, nose or mouth when we ask him where they are. He chatters away most of the day in his own baby language. Every so often, he will come out with a word or sentence that is clear as day: bottle, Hi Berta, zapatos.

He loves going to daycare, and along with the other little 15-month old girl Elsa, dotes on 4-month old Milo, patting the baby when he cries, or offering a pacifier or a bottle. Xander also knows how to be gentle, both with Milo and with our cats.

Xander's favorite activities are swinging at the park, playing in the sand, playing with toys in the tub, eating bananas (num num!), wrestling with Daddy, and hanging onto Mommy's pant legs.