Saturday, July 12, 2008: Off Like a Shot

Michael has hit a major skill-growth spurt in the last few weeks, and Mike and I are struggling to keep up with him physically and mentally. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

The growth spurt was heralded by Michael's own version of growing pains: sudden, inexplicable tantrums in public places. Take, for example, our friend's outdoor wedding last Friday: we stood huddled under a tent in the pouring rain just long enough to finish the ceremony, by which time we were wet, muddy, tired, and extremely hungry, ready for the reception to begin, when Michael fell to pieces and demanded nothing less than to be taken home immediately. (Though the wedding ceremony was wonderful -- and our many congratulations to Chris and April! -- the ride home was not pleasant.) He's averaged about one major screaming fit every other day since then, and only a few of them have had obvious explanations. For the others, we're at a loss.

Maybe all the energy he's expending is making him extra-tired. He's been unstoppable now that he can pull himself up on things (took him long enough!), crawl on his hands and knees (also took him long enough!), turn his push-car and navigate around obstacles, climb up low steps, and fall down and hit his head a lot. Michael is still afraid to let go of his support and sit down on his own, so he'll try halfheartedly, lose his balance, fall, and get too upset to try again. But aside from that, the house is Michael's oyster now, and nowhere he can reach by pushing his cart or cruising is safe from his curious eyes and fingers. He particularly likes walking into the living room and rifling through all the drawers, drawers which are now mostly empty.

But Michael's motor developments pale in comparison to his cognitive ones. He's now learning to say a new word every day or so, his current total at twenty (not including thirteen animal sounds). He can identify several letters and numbers, though I doubt he has any real concept of what they mean yet. He can demonstrate the concepts of "big" and "small," and he has even begun to string two or more words together to make a complete thought. His particular favorites are some form of "car mama bbbbbbb," which he says whenever he sees Mike's or my car in the driveway, and "car outside." Sometimes he conveys his meaning through words and hand gestures, like when he puts his hand to his mouth and says "mmmmm" for "yum" or "more" in regard to food. And sometimes he still just gestures, like when he holds his open hand up to convey "all gone" or "all done."

We're especially pleased at how well Michael is learning the concept of "no." We have told him over and over again what is a no-no, such as touching Mommy's computer or throwing food on the floor, and he is beginning to apply his knowledge. Now he will deliberately walk over to my computer, point at it, and shake his head to show us that he knows he shouldn't touch it. Often he will also do the forbidden thing, such as throwing blueberries all over the kitchen floor, while shaking his head "no." When I first saw him doing this, I thought we were getting a first glimpse of willful defiance, but after a while I realized that he was doing it to practice the idea of "no" -- drilling himself. I now agree with him that throwing food is a no-no, then make him stop.

His rapid progress is also leaving him a bit inscrutable. Michael has developed a whole string of weird quirks that we can find no rational explanation for. For one, he somehow got the idea that to kiss someone, you butt the person with your forehead. (So if any of you ever get head-butted by Michael, know that he means it in only the kindest possible way.) And he has two books where he has started "kissing" (i.e. head-butting) all the pages with pictures of birds on them (and one picture of a teddy bear). He roars like a lion every time he sees the "quiet old lady whispering 'hush'" in Good Night, Moon. Every time he catches sight of the letter O in his alphabet book, he barks like a dog. When he sees the picture of a big green tree in I Am a Bunny, he leans down and sniffs it. And while sitting at Daddy's desk the other day, he noticed a pile of gift cards, pointed at them, and kept saying "gorilla."

There are times that we just don't get Michael. But he's hilarious and sweet, and we love watching our baby turn into this crazy little toddler.

Lots of New Stuff: I have totally redesigned the Gallery section to improve the navigation and, in doing so, have added a whole bunch of new photographs that have been in the pipeline for a while (film and digital, color and black and white). Be sure to check them out!

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