New conversations

Joseph is figuring out how to say people's names this month. Michael is "Ky-cull," Canon is "Nannon," his little friends at preschool are Grace and Connor, and he got "Papi" down completely this past week. He is combining them with new words every day and even carrying on little conversations. Yesterday I told him it was time for a bath. He said, "No, Mama. Movie." He started kicking his feet and wailing while I relocated him to change his diaper and take a bath, and stubbornly sat still in the bath, rejecting every toy, for several minutes. Eventually he gave in and started playing with the rubber Percy and Gordon trains (as an aside, I'm amazed he can say those names and recognize the silly trains already). But after a few minutes of being distracted, the thought visibly popped back into his mind and he looked up and said, "All done bath. Movie," and stood right up in the tub. He doesn't stay distracted very long! He also remembers if we promise to go to the playground and bring bikes. If I don't remember the bikes he gets upset. Can't pull anything over on this guy.

Later, after I got his pajamas on and he watched a little bit of his movie with his brothers (they had been watching after dinner - I pulled him away for the bath), he wandered back to find me in the bedroom, looked up, and earnestly signed and said, "Cookie, Mama." I got down on his level and said, "No more cookie, Joseph. All done." He looked me right back in the eye and insisted, "Cookie, Mama," and grabbed my hand to confidently lead me back toward the kitchen and straight to the pantry. The focus and determination made me laugh out loud. I admit I gave him two animal crackers. He was quite satisfied with the results.

Here's a video of Joseph zooming on the tricycle at the playground. He's getting pretty good and he wants to go the same distance around the park as his brothers do - but at 20 months!  I am keeping him reined in to more reasonable limits...