the incredible growing boy

In the three days I was away from him, Silas

- walked across the room at his Grandma's (he's taken steps before, but only 3-4 at a time).
- learned the word "that" and now says it for everything. He will hold up a toy and announce, "That!"
- started pointing at pictures in books (which is a really important cognitive skill, though not quite as exciting as the "That!" pronouncements).
- came surprisingly close to falling back to sleep in the middle of the night without the help of a bottle, something he has never in his life done before last weekend. Not once, ever.
- became proficient in the sign for "eat."
- seems to be imitating more new sounds every hour. "T" sounds and "Da" for "all done" and animal sounds, using "mama" to call me and imitating environmental sounds. The other day I watched him push a truck around and make a truck sound spontaneously (as I had done a few hours before).
- started blowing kisses with a pucker. If you say, "Love you," he will blow you a kiss. So sweet.

Also, yesterday, in the sanctuary after church, he crawled part of the way down the center aisle, announced, "bye-bye" as he waved to no one in particular, then crawled out into the vestibule. We were clearly visiting too long, and he was ready to go home.

Children typically focus their attention on one developmental area at a time. When babies are in the midst of a big language burst, they will usually plateau in their motor skills. Or when they start to walk, their language skills will level off for a few months. As in all things, Silas is determined to defy the norm, and seems to be in a general developmental burst right now. I really think tubes (and subsequent improved hearing) have something to do with this, but both his motor and language skills have both taken off at the same time.

I love watching babies grow.

And because you tolerated my unadulterated gushing for so long, here are a few pictures of the prodigy himself.





Happy Monday, all.