Triumph!

In the last few days, Tyler keeps surprising us with new words! It has been so exciting that I just had to share. For example:

*He has been good for a long time at "pointing nouns", as I call them- things he can place his finger on and say the name. Still, it has only been a month since the first time he volunteered information. Meaning, instead of us saying "where's the _____" and him pointing to it out of a lineup, him seeing an object he knows the name for and just saying the name. For the last week or so, he has become obsessed with naming truck, bulldozer and all the other construction equipment he can find as we drive! I know I will be sick of this soon, but I am just thrilled to hear him saying "tuck!" all the time in the car. (Do you have any idea how many pickup trucks you pass as you drive places? Good grief!)

*Tyler's weakness for a long time has been commands. We have been working on "go", "stop" and "stay" especially hard for safety reasons. And ever since Kaitlyn was born, it has been hard when it is time to feed her or put her to sleep, because he didn't understand I didn't want him to make noise or be in that room. So the other night I tried frantically to get him to leave, telling him to "go see Daddy, downstairs!" He knows "Daddy" really well, shouting that out every time he sees him. And he vaguely understands "downstairs". Eventually, he left- and sure enough, found Daddy in the basement! That's two flights down! I was so pumped.

*While I love how easy-going Tyler is, I have wished for a long time that he would tell me when he wants something. For example, he has known the sign and word for milk for a long time, but he won't volunteer that word when he is thirsty. I just know how thirsty he was when I get around to giving him some milk and he downs more than one cup of it. (He doesn't ask for "more" either, even though I make him say "more" before he gets it each time.) But last night he needed a diaper change while some friends were over, and I took him up to my purse to find a diaper without going all the way upstairs and back to the basement. And he said "duh- ahhh". We have never figured out exactly what word he is trying to say, but he says that word all the time when we are going to bed. ("Tyler, do you want to go night-night?" "Duh-ahhhh." ) So I took Tyler to bed. And he went right to sleep, because he was tired. HOORAY!!!

*And yesterday I was tuning out the babbling when I read him say his version of "red". We've worked half-heartedly on colors, but it has been kinda abstract for him (you just told me this is called ball, and now it is called red? What is going on here?), so we haven't pushed. But he was right! So I asked him to point to blue, and he did! When did he figure that out? Granted, he got the next few wrong, but he had it there for a minute, so that is cool.

Hooray for the little man!