Manners

I've been trying not to push manners on N but do the "show by example" thing. He's picking it up. "No thanks" is often used. "Sorry" is used a lot. Often when not needed (we are Canadian). Was used repeatedly as he bumped the step stool into the back of my legs. It appears I was in between him and the sink.

N uses please a lot too, but I'm not sure how he learned not to say "please" but "Pleeeeeeease?" We hear that many times a day. Usually with the word "chocolate". Or now that it's Christmas "Candy Cane".

Thomas: the Obsession Continues

I should update on N's Thomas obsession. He plays a lot with his train track, loves any Thomas book, and when we go out, will often take a little bag of trains with him. He'll point out every train in the books and name them. Somehow, he can even distinguish between Annie and Claribel. Every couple of days, he wakes up in the morning saying "Thomas. Gordon. Percy. Henry. Toby" etc.

He's getting a Percy train for his track for Christmas. It'll probably be his favourite gift.

The Bunny

So N loves Veggie Tales. We rented a couple of DVDs from the library and he can't get enough of them. Mostly it's the songs. Every story has at least one song, and N will get up and dance and sing along.

His favourite is probably the Bunny Song. He sings along with the DVD and quite often throughout the day. He even changes the lyrics to suit his mood. Maybe he loves The Pancake. Or The Duckies.

Now if only I could get him to sing The Mommy.

Counting revisited

A couple of weeks ago, N started counting down from five to one. Now, it appears he's got himself all confused. Numbers come out in any order. Well, except for two and three - they're still in the correct order. Those he uses every time he's about to jump off the stairs, the couch, or whatever elevated object he's managed to climb up on.

(Oh, the jumping off the stairs is into my arms. Just so no one thinks I'm sitting back while he hurls himself off the top step)

Spiderman

N gets a lot of hand-me-downs from his cousin P. In the last batch was a Spiderman shirt.

N had (has?) no idea who Spiderman is, but thought the shirt was great (because, well, it was P's). Then, because I'm old, I started singing the Spiderman song from the old cartoon.

Now, every time he wears the shirt, I have to sing the song, oh, about 20 times. He'll throw in the odd word just to show he's listening.

Swimming

Swimming, swimming, in the swimming pool
when days are hot,
when days are cold,
in the swimming pool!
Breast stroke,
side stroke,
fancy diving too.
Don't you wish you never had
anything else to do!
But go...

repeat ad nauseum.

When N sings, he just sings the bolded words.

Halloween

OK, so this post is a bit late...

This year, N was going to be at daycare for Halloween, so a costume was required. The kids have a Halloween parade in the cafeteria at work. It's really cute. Lots of staff fill the caf and the kids make a few rounds to show off their costumes. Then they get to visit some of the other floors, where treats are waiting for them.

I knew I should have made a dog costume for N, but when I saw the Wizard of Oz pattern, I couldn't resist making the scarecrow for him to wear. After all my work (it's been a while since I've been sewing) N would have no part of it.

Daycare managed to get the top and pants on him, but there was no way he would wear the hat. At home, I didn't even bother trying. He ran to the door for each trick-or-treater, and got mad when I gave them some of the chocolate.... yeah, he learned all about chocolate this halloween. And he's been asking for it almost daily since.

We did go to a party the next night. I got the hat on long enough for Dad to get a photo. Of the scarecrow trying to rip his own head off.

Snow

Well, today was the first snow day. Sticky snow. Good snowball snow.

I was both looking forward to snow and dreading it. I imagined us playing in the snow - rolling around in it, but I know how much N hates to wear extra clothes. Any clothes really. And you need to wear clothes in the snow.

There was no easing into snow gear this year either, as we went from dry land to winter wonderland overnight. To make matters worse, it was a work day for me, so there was no choice but to get into snow gear first thing in the morning.

Yes there was yelling. Crying. Attempted rending of clothes. Eventually I stuffed N into a jacket and boots and off we went. Sad thing is, we didn't even get to enjoy the snow, as we went straight to daycare. I'm very sorry about that. At least the daycare took the kids out later in the day.

I'm hoping he'll soon get used to all the extra winter gear. Dad can't wait to go tobogganing.

A day of Firsts

Two things happened today, which for some reason I never expected.

First, N actually asked to go up for a nap! N sleeps well, but he hates the idea of going to bed. There are often tears as we make out way upstairs. I give lots of warning, so I'm not catching him by surprise, but he just doesn't want to go. I've moved bedtime both earlier and later, but it makes no difference.

Today though, I asked if he was ready for a nap, and he said 'yes' and then 'upstairs'. wow

What made this different from the other 654 days you've been around? I have no idea, but I hope to figure it out soon.

Oh yeah, the other first. N's first writing on the floor. Of the den. In felt marker. Luckily it was Crayola washable marker.

N's always been pretty good about colouring on paper. Not sure what happened this time, but he was in the den while I was in the kitchen making dinner. I came in to check on him and the paper was next to him, but the drawing was all over the floor.

To make it even better - now when he has a marker he pushes the paper away and points to the floor. He does listen when I say no, but he'll ask multiple times while colouring if he can write on the floor instead.

French Fries!

Not sure when he figured out what fries were (or chips for that matter) but it's one (two)of his favourite foods. Now, I'm a chip and french fry lover, so it comes to him naturally, but I wasn't encouraging it. We rarely had fries, except for potatoes I'd cut and bake in the oven. That and when driving to visit R's family (4 hours away) we'd often get take out. But N was usually sleeping. When he wasn't, he'd eat one or two and be done.

A few weeks ago, we were driving around and I wanted fries. So we went through a drive thru and picked some up. We had barely left the parking lot when N started asking for the fries from the back seat. I didn't even realize he knew the word, never mind figuring out that was what was in the paper bag.

Now chips he's had. Birthday parties, family gatherings, there are always some form of chips around (potato, taco, heck, even rice). These he now grabs at the grocery store and calls "chips" as he tries to open them. Ugh.

Counting

N can now count to ten! Well, from two to ten. He never says the number one. If you start with one, he'll count the rest of the way to ten. At daycare, he did a lot of counting for them, getting louder and louder as the numbers got higher.

Update. OK, so maybe it's only eight. Lately his counting goes "2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 7, 8, 7, 8" until I suggest maybe put a 9 in there somewhere. Also, he was counting for the chiropractor and that went "2,3,4,5,6,7,8, Thursday". I guess we need a little work still...

Swearing.

N started swearing a few weeks ago. OK, it was one swear one time. Still.

I was at my sister's house and we were looking for a cast listing for the Rainbow Stage production of Peter Pan, since my sister and her kids knew someone in it. We couldn't find anything on the RS website, so we went to Facebook. Looking up "Peter Pan" gave a lot of results. My niece S found one funny and read it out loud:

"When I grow up I want to be Peter Pan... oh sh*t"

N was nursing, and when S finished reading the group name, he stopped nursing, smiled, said "Sh*t" and then latched on again.

Mummy Milk

More a story about me I suppose, but I thought I'd put it here anyway...

When N started at daycare 2 days per week, he didn't eat a lot so I'd stop by at lunch to nurse him. Among the other kids in the toddler room were J&J, two 18 month old girls. Both adorable. They found my nursing very interesting.

They'd stand by the chair to see what was happening. I told them N was having milk. Special milk that he gets from me. "Mummy milk" one of the J's called it. OK, that works.

Every time I nursed, they'd be there to check it out. They would stand by the chair and see what was happening. One day, one J reached out and poked my breast with her finger. I'm quite sure the other J once asked if she could have some (no, I didn't let her).

It got to the point, that one J would shout out "MUMMY MILK" as soon as I walked into the room. I'm pretty sure she thought that was my name.

Sides?

N's new word for nursing. Sides. I'm guessing it comes from my asking if he want's the "other side". He does say milk, but that means cow's milk. On cereal.

There was a woman in our breastfeeding group whose son called nursing "BOOBIES". At least if N shouts out "SIDES!" at the mall, it won't shock anyone, or embarrass me.

Chicks dig scars

How about scratches? No scaring, but a nice couple of scratches across his face. N had a run-in with a cat at the farm. Older cat, not used to kids. Especially one who puts his face a few inches from said cat and yells "Cat! Cat! Cat!" and "Hi! Hi! Hi!". Eventually Stumpy had enough and let N know. N was scared off for about 5 minutes. The scratches were very close to his eye so we did get it checked by the optometrist. All is fine.

Bed Time

So, N has never liked going to bed. He cries, asks for more (and more) books to be read, crawls out of bed to run around the room... and so on. Now that he's talking more, we're getting into the request stage. Earlier this week, he seemed to be almost asleep when he jumped up and asked for water. So, I had R bring up his sippy cup. He had some water, then I had to have some water, then we had to go back and forth with the cup for a while until I had R take it back downstairs. Then we were both lying down again and he looked again like he was about to fall asleep when he jumped up and started asking for a bath. Words and sign. He'd never asked for a bath before, but I sure wasn't going to give him one at 10pm.

Let's hope he doesn't turn into R's brother who used to get up at 2am and ask his mom to make him bacon and eggs. If he does, N will quickly learn I'm no baba. No way I'll get up and actually do it.

Bird bird bird bird

N was over at my sisters and her 6 year old son P was asking when N would start talking. My sister said: "He already is talking. He can say cat" (to which N answered "Cat") "and bird". At this point, N gets right up close to P's face and while making the sign for bird says "bird bird bird bird" about 20 times.

Fun with your buddies

Daycare day for N. On Thursdays, he gets to spend the day with C, who is only 5 days older. When I went to pick up N, he and C were having a great time. There is a post in the room, decorated like a tree, and N and C were running around it chasing each other. They'd giggle and run, and then N would veer off the loop and give me a hug. Then he'd run back in, going the opposite direction, and they'd both laugh when they'd meet up. Then one would chase the other again. It's the first time I've seen them really playing with each other. Not just playing in the same area or with the same toys but really interacting. It was great to watch.

Sushi Train

We were late coming home last Friday, and I had nothing ready for dinner. We decided to go out. Close to our house, we have a restaurant called Sushi Train. Instead of the little boat floating around with sushi on it, there is a train (being the prairies and all). We thought that might entertain N while we had dinner... but maybe it entertained him too much. When the train came close by, N would scream out "chooo choo! choo choo!" and yell when it traveled to the other end of the restaurant. He wouldn't sit in the high chair, but had to be held up by one of us. We quickly changed out order to be 'to go' and went to the park for a picnic instead. N ate his miso soup and then he and R kicked the ball around for a while. Ended up being a wonderful evening.

Good Morning

Just had to note N's new way of waking up. He sleeps with us, and recently he started waking me up by putting his face right up close to mine and saying "Hi" about 10 times.

Thomas: The Obsession

Oh my, but N is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine. I think it started when we were out toy shopping and he found the books with buttons to push to make sounds. He got his hands on a Thomas book, and N would not put it down. He played with it for most of that day, and still plays with it every day at some point. Then, while packing our office stuff to move it to the basement, N came across the box with left-over valentine cards. I happened to have picked Thomas cards. He wouldn't put the box down. He carried it all over the house, and even had to take it to daycare one day.

Move ahead to last week. We went to Costco and they had a pack with 2 Thomas DVDs and a couple of trains. N got very excited and wouldn't put them down. So we opened up the box there, and happily continued our shopping while he played with the trains... until we got to the checkout and he let out a scream when the woman tried to take the box to scan it in.

When we got home, I took the DVDs out of the box and hid them away for later. Didn't bother N any. He was quite happy to look at the box. On the back were the photos of all the Thomas DVDs available. He carried that around the house for the rest of the night.

And the trains... Well, they go everywhere.

Where did this come from? He only has the one book, he's only seen the show twice (and one of those times was for about 5 minutes). Oh well, as far as kid obsessions go, it's not a bad one I guess....

First Camping Trip

For part of the Canada day long weekend, we decided to go camping. Since it was to be N's first camping trip, we only went for one evening. And because we planned it last minute, we didn't get there until after 7pm and were attacked by mosquitoes. Or, R and I were. N didn't seem to get bothered at all. I think I was more vigilant with the bug spray on him than on me. We picked up some natural stuff last year from Heartsease. It works well if you reapply quite frequently. I did that for N, but got lazy with myself.

N had a great time. He played with his beach toys at the site, putting gravel into the buckets. If he wasn't doing that, he was trying to grab the mosquito coils. We tried to keep him away from them, but eventually he grabbed one by the smoking end and got a bit of a burn.

Then in the morning after pancakes, we went to the beach. We all had fun playing in the sand. R and I would start a castle and N would tear it down. He also liked filling his buckets with water and pouring them onto the sand. We tried to go swimming, until N tripped and got his face wet. He wasn't too interested after that.

Now, if we can just get our camping gear to a more mangeable size...

Blowing Kisses

N likes to blow kisses. Today not only was he blowing kisses as I left, but blowing them with both hands at once.

My Little Scientist

So last night we had the fan on in the bedroom. N was standing in front of it. Then he picked up one of those magazine subscription inserts (which was my bookmark - oh well) and held it up to the fan. Then he looked around, ran to the other part of the room, and returned with his shirt from the hamper. He then alternated between holding up the paper and t-shirt in front of the fan. Went back to the hamper and picked up his shorts. Then he alternated between the three items. Very interesting to watch. Not sure what his conclusion was, but eventually he was happy with his research and climbed back into bed.

Baptism

Well, we finally got N baptized, and I understand now the main reason people get this done when their children are infants. N was running all over the church and we'd have to chase him down when it got to a point where he needed to be there. Good thing we scheduled it to be after mass not during!

When it finally came to the water on the head part, N laughed like crazy (he does love the water). The priest said it was the first time that happened. He also said it was his fastest baptism, but that he still hit all the important parts. :)

The Duck Says Quack (or is it cack)

N is not a big talker yet, but it's starting. Last week, he said the name of his primary caregiver at daycare, and also the name of one of the little girls. Yesterday he started making animal sounds. Caught me by surprise. I've been asking him for a while now with no answer, but then yesterday, when I said "what does the duck say?" he said "cack cack cack". Oh and his cows say "oooooo".

Airplane

Not sure where he picked this up. I suppose it's because of all the airplanes that fly over our house... Anyway, N has a Little People airport. His new thing is to take the little plane, put people in it and then fly it around the room. He makes this cute "wooo" sound at the same time. I'll try to get the video up.

Do your diaper-do

OK, so my sister P made up a goofy song to sing while changing diapers and for some reason, the rest of us have picked it up. Sister J and I both sing it to N (as do all of J's kids). Today, we realized he's singing it too! Of course, with his few words the song for him goes "do, do, do do do do".

TV addict

I've tried to keep the tv watching to a minimum with N. When we both had the flu (and R was out of town) we watched a bit. A few times, I've let him watch when I get dinner together, if R is working late and N is otherwise climbing on me trying to "help" with the chopping and cooking. The day he woke up at 5:45 am ready to start the day, yeah, the tv went on then.

When it was on, he wasn't too interested. He'd play and look up once in a while, but something has changed. Now, if we're home during the day, at some point N gets up on the couch, pats the seat next to him for me to sit down, and when I do, he points to the tv. He gets mad if I don't turn it on.

Note: Dad does not have the same concerns about tv I have... maybe it's his influence :)

Update: Now N not only points at the tv, he now says "Watch?".

Allergy

It's been confirmed. N is allergic to peanuts. His reaction was mild, so there's hope he'll outgrow it. Until then, we've got an epi-pen and I've just ordered a medic-alert bracelet. They'll test him again next year.

Dishes

Every day, N has to do the dishes. He pulls the step stool over to the kitchen sink and climbs up. I then have to put water in the sink and give him some cups and a dishrag. Who knows how long he'd stay there. I usually move him once he dumps a pile of water down the cupboard doors and onto the floor.

Tub time teasing

N has a new tub game... he'll stand up and make the sign for finished. When I reach over to get him, he sits back down again. Repeat about 20 times.

Counting

N has started counting. Well, not sure you can really call it that. I often count to three when we're doing things - throwing the ball, jumping, getting ready to run - that sort of thing. N does it now, but only uses the number two. So it goes like: "Two, two, TWO!"

Oh, and just to keep up on tooth count, 4 molars are in and the canines are starting to poke through.

OK

N's new favourite word. He says "OK" to pretty much anything. I'm hoping he'll keep this up and not move to "No".

Silly

N is getting to be a very silly little boy. He thinks it's hilarious to shake his head back and forth and make himself dizzy (or at least I think that's what he's doing it for). He's started to spin around as well. Really more like a slow walk in a circle at this point.

He also likes belly-flopping on the bed. He stands up, yells and babbles away, and then let's himself fall. Often onto my stomach. Laughs and laughs. He'll let himself fall backwards too. I'm always nervous he'll get too close to the end of the bed when he let's himself fall, so I'm always moving him to the middle. I suppose I should be discouraging this, but he has so much fun. Until he knocks out a tooth or something I suppose.

This weekend, he's also been trying to wink (squints both eyes) and snap his fingers (opens and closes his hands).

Hiding

There's a song in Kindermusik where you shake these clackers (not to be confused with clackers from my youth). Then you hide them (behind your back) sing asking where they are and then again when your child finds them. N loves this song, and likes to hide his clacker under my legs while I sit on the floor. I make the where sign while singing the song.

This week, he took an empty package from his dried fruit, stuffed it way in the paper tray of the printer, and made the where sign! His first sign that isn't an object (milk, dog, cat etc.).

Swimming lessons

We started swimming lessons again. N loves the water, but during the first class, he wanted nothing but to sit on the edge of the pool. Crying every time I took him to the middle, or tried to get him to float on his stomach. or back.

Fast forward 2 weeks. He now laughs and screams (happily) through the whole class. When the kids stand on the side of the pool and jump in after a count of three (with parent's help), he bounces at each count and screams "Weeeeeee" when I finally pick him up to "jump" in the water. He's even blowing bubbles in the water. Really, he's blowing raspberries in the water, but same result. R needs to get off work early enough one night to film it.

Beautiful night for a walk

R was at the chiropractor's last night. We all went since his appointment was right after work. Dr is a friend of ours, so after the appointment, we all decided to go for a walk (Dr is married and has 2 kids - youngest is about 6 months older than N). N was determined to walk, and ended up walking for about half a mile all by himself! After that, N finally let me pick him up. It's by far the longest walk he's ever done.

We all slept well last night.

Look, animals!

Oh dear but N loves animals. Real ones, pictures, cartoon images, anything! Now, anytime we're out, he points and yells at every cat, dog, bird, animal logo (giant tiger, dunn rite chicken), any card with animals on it, etc. When we go grocery shopping, we now have to spend some time looking at all the dog and cat foods bags.

And speaking of birds, he's got that sign down too! He's starting to learn some body parts as well. He can find his head, and loves to honk my nose and poke me in the eye when you ask him to point them out.

More signs and words and teeth!

N has some new words and signs. He signs "book" and finally has "dog" right, says "stop", "yes" (more like "yup") and "that".

Two more teeth in! Another molar and one canine.

He has also become a very, um, determined little boy. If you try to stop him from doing something (or better yet, move him away from something) he throws a little fit. Terrible twos coming a bit early?

Babka

N's Great-Grandmother passed away last weekend (hubby's Baba), two days after her 101st birthday. She was a really wonderful woman who loved her family to bits. Other than her bad knees and trouble hearing, she was in great form up until a few weeks ago.

I thought I'd add some advice from her that she gave us the first time we visited with N:

"Don't put his diaper on too tight! When my kids were little, I always put on the diapers tight. Now, I'm wearing them, and some of those nurses put them on really tight and it's just not comfortable. When my kids were little, I didn't know. Now I know."

I'll miss her.

Piranha

So N has a new word, and it's Piranha! He says "na na na". Why piranha? He got a set of board books called "What's at the Aquarium" for his birthday from his aunt and family in Vancouver. One of the books is called "Dangerous Fish" and the piranha is on the last page. The books are very simple. Cartoon character of a fish on one side and the name on the other. N loves them.

More signs and knocking.

N has finally figured out the sign for milk. Now that he's got it down, he signs it a lot, which means he's nursing more than ever. I sometimes try to convince him he doesn't really need it, but then he reverts back to his old sign for milk, which was to reach down my top and try to pull out what he wants.

Somewhere along the way, he also learned to knock on doors. He knocks on all closed doors, and any windows he can see through (if someone is walking by). He also knocks along to Hand Hand Fingers Thumb. It's quite cute. He knocks on the floor while I read.

Stacking

N loves his stacking cups. For a long time, he would get us to stack them so he could knock them down. Then he started putting the little ones into the bigger ones. Now, he's finally got the stacking part down. Well, kind of. He stacks the cups nicely, but instead of the largest on the bottom, with the open end pointing down, he starts with the smallest and stacks them with the opening pointing up! Basically flipping the whole thing upside down.

Another one snuck up on us

N has another tooth... a molar! We didn't even know it was coming. Well, he had been drooling, but it's been going on for so long, we stopped looking for any new teeth. Then, while visiting his great grandmother, we all got a look at it... who knows how long it's been there, but it looks like a couple of friends will soon be joining it.

Cat!

N loves cats. Dogs too. Whenever we see one, on tv, in a book or live, he giggles and points. He also makes the cat sign. Yeah, for both cats and dogs, but we're working on that. Sometimes he signs dog, but he pats my leg instead of his own.

First (and Second) Kiss

When I picked up N at daycare today, we were sitting around visiting with the other kids. One of the girls (who is 6 months older than N) came up to him and gave him a hug and kiss. I figured this was his first kiss from a girl who is not a relative. Then the staff told me the other 18 month old girl gave him a kiss in the morning! He's a popular boy.

N finds his toes.

On Monday, we were reading N's counting book. The last page is a picture of toes for number 10. When we read it, I asked "Where are N's toes?" and he grabbed his toes! First time he's pointed out one of his body parts.

So big! revisited

I've talked about N and the "So Big" game before. This week, he was at my sister's place and he was playing it with his cousin. After a while, Sarah turned to do something else. N started chattering away and somewhere in the middle called out "So big"! Of course, I can't get him to do it for me.

More Foops

OK, I've written about N and his foops before, . He usually does them on my stomach when I'm nursing him to bed, or on my arm when we're playing... even on his own arm. Today he was standing by the couch and realized he could just lean down and give the couch a little foop. He thought it was hilarious and did it over and over and over again. My friend Rachel (who gave me the name foop) was over and though it was quite entertaining. He's a little comic.

Signs

OK, now I know N is using his sign language. We live on the flight path for the airport, so lots of planes fly overhead. I always tell N "There's a plane" and make the sign. Earlier in the week, we were up in bed and a plane flew over. N reached his had in the air and made a pretty good plane symbol. Then on Friday, we were eating a blood orange. We'd finished half of it, and N definitely made the sign for more!

First Haircut

On Friday, before our family photos on Sunday, N went for his first haircut. I didn't think he had enough to cut really, except for the crazy long hair over his ears.
R's barber was mentioning the last time R was in that it was about time. So, since R was getting his hair cut anyway, we brought N along.

Lou was really great. He already had an envelope marked to save some of N's hair (not something I would have done, but very thoughtful) and was wonderful with N. Actually, it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting lots of tears and one little boy quickly making his way off the chair. Instead, he sat on my lap and was quite happy with the whole thing. Although he kept turning his head around to see just what Lou was doing back there.

The cut looks great, and Lou did cut quite a bit of hair off. Again, who knew N had that much to cut!

Family photo and walking

OK, now R and I have both seen it... N is walking! Only a few steps at a time, but he is walking! We went for family photos today and he decided to walk around the studio. Right after I told the photographer that he didn't.

Yay N!

One year old with lots of clapping

Well, N just turned one. Hard to believe that a year has already gone by. I was looking at him yesterday, and suddenly he didn't look like a baby anymore, but like a little boy.

N was clapping before... just the odd random clap. On Sunday we were watching the end of a game show and the audience started clapping. N started clapping right along, and now there's no stopping him. He sits on the bed and claps and chatters away when he should be sleeping.

Played his first game of hide and seek today as well. He was at my sister's place and her 2 youngest would hide (easy places like under the table) and N would find them. He had a blast.

First Steps!

And we missed them. Here I thought N's first steps would be at the daycare. Ends up they were a week before he even starts there.

Last night, R and I went out for dinner and my sister and her family were babysitting. N's cousin Olivia was playing with him and he took 2 or 3 steps. She thought he'd already done it, so she just mentioned it in passing. Of course, we tried to get him to do it again... no way.

Chatterbox

N is one chatty little boy. Good French boy too... he talks away, waving his hands about, just like his mom.

Looks like he has 2 new words. "Again" which he says every time we finish a book, and "truck" when we're reading his favorite truck book (which we read "again" and "again"). He also likes his most recent kindermusik book. The refrain on each page is "Boom pa pa, Boom pa pa, Tango Cha Cha. 1-2-3 Waltz with me Boom pa pa pa". When we get to that point, he shouts out "Pa Pa!", usually with lots of spitting.

Climbing and saying Hooray!

N has been climbing up a lot (up stairs, onto the couch, onto boxes etc) but just figured out how to climb off the bed! Of course, he now thinks this is the most fun ever, and when I'm trying to get him to sleep, I'm constantly pulling him away from the edge of the bed. If not, he'd be off it and down the hallway.

He's still not big on clapping his hands, but when we sing "If you're happy and you know it shout Hooray!" he'll lift his hands up in the air and giggles.