word power

it's warm enough and Nolan's now big enough to enjoy playgrounds! there were three slides that he giggled and screamed the way down. he'd run around the playground, climb up and do it again.




over the weekend Nolan really started exercising his vocabulary. the first word out of his mouth each day is usually "dog" as they clamor for our attention to go outside. but this weekend the first word of the day was "shoe" and then today it was "socks". we were having a picnic lunch in our yard on Saturday, a gorgeous day in the 60s that had the whole city out of the house, and Nolan was digging the outdoor meal of pizza. he kept pointing at the food going "chee" and "itza". i think he's been saying cheese for a while but who knows what else he's saying and i'm just not catching it yet. "nana" i thought was a babble until he started using it consistently for his breakfast banana. i swear he's actually trying to tell me something and i'm the dummy not grasping his point as he babbles in full emotive sentences.

the toddler is coming out, too. he's just starting to run and hide from me. it's usually some overwhelming need, like food, sleep or a desperate need for attention that drives him to hide. it's counter-intuitive to hide you'd think. the spots he will run to are either behind the coats, behind the couch or behind the dresser if we're upstairs. one day when coming home, he was playing outside with his dad and pal Benjamin. as soon as i started towards him he turned and walked the other way. i followed, he then let me help him walk up a hill and then let me hug him. THEN he started fussing once i picked him up. at the end of the day i guess he realizes how much he missed me. sad but sweet.