Stop Growing So Fast!

NOTE: This is mostly for my own journaling, though it may sound a little braggy. But hey, every mom needs a good brag now and then!!

Grant is growing like a weed before my very eyes. Today he consumed an egg, an entire piece of toast, a cup of juice, a half of a rice cake, another half of a banana, animal crackers, graham crackers, milk, water, a single-serve mac and cheese, veggie crisps, freeze-dried yogurt drops, bean soup, yet another banana (I need to hide them so he can't see and beg for them), and various other little snacks. Lately, the only time he stops eating is when he's sleeping! He has the cutest tubby little man-belly going on. :)

Even more than his physical sprouting, his mental and verbal skills have started skyrocketing. After this I won't even try to keep up with him, I'll just pick out highlights here and there, because he's learning at least one new word a day and is picking up several new signs every week. Here's a review of our big weekend:

He started signing food; he said side in reference to outside when I opened the window; he said baaaaa-bob for grandpa, which matches the aaaaaa-gah he's been saying for grandma for months; he attempts to sign water and banana; he choo-chooed while reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book while we were in the car (I didn't know he could discern that the cartoon was a train); he said baby while looking at his new cousin, Lydia; he kept pointing to the hallway at my brother's house and saying shus, and after an hour we realized he was pointing at the picture of Jesus on the wall (he can recognize Jesus in just about any picture now); he enjoys singing with us (especially to Broadway's The Lion King) and often hits the right pitches, he now points at the birds outside and tries to tweet, and much to Mom's dismay, he stands on our ottomans all day long (though I can't say it isn't my fault since I taught him to stand on them to wave at Dad when he goes to school). He's been saying owie-owie-owie-owie for a few months, but he recently picked up ouch (and he loves to mimic ouch, Charlie!). When we get in the car the first thing he does is say rrrrrrrrch, since that is what we say whenever we turn a corner. He'll try to say most words we say (like diaper today), but ONLY if it is pertinent in the moment. He won't sign food unless he wants some, and he won't say baby or diaper unless there is one right in front of him.

Yesterday at KBYU's Ready to Learn workshop was the first day Grant actually played with another child. The other boy was bettween 18-24 months old, and Grant basically followed him around for thirty minutes. He touched everything the boy did, in the same exact way, and he mimicked every sound the boy made. He ran right behind the boy back and forth across the room for quite some time, interspersed by both of them beating their hands on the heat register at one end. The best part was watching Grant's face: he was constantly looking at the other boy with such adoration, as if he were gazing upon his hero. I've never seen him care about what another child thought, or do something that another child did. Up until this point he's been content with playing his own games next to the other children around him. He didn't stop smiling the whole time!

After the workshop we walked past the duck pond at BYU before climbing the 147 stairs up the hill to see Jake at work. Grant was in love with the ducks, and said dut, guck, and even duck several times. It was all I could do to keep him from jumping in the water after them! He would run after them with his arms open wide as if he were going to give them a big hug.

Last night we went to the mall to see Jake while he worked at his dad's Gospel Study Journal kiosk, and as we were leaving Grant would take one step away from his daddy, then turn and look back to wave. Then another step, turn, wave, step, turn, wave. It took several minutes to get him around the corner. I was in a real hurry, but I just couldn't be frustrated with such an adorable display!