It is so much fun communicating with Luke these days. It has definitely become a 2-way street. He comes up to me obviously chewing on something, and I say "Take that out of your mouth please. I need that," while holding out my hand. Then he'll either give me what is in his mouth or he'll run away: either way, I know that he understood and responded to what I said.
Sometimes I'll tell him something that makes him mad, and he'll start bouncing up and down angrily in what is clearly a precursor to stomping feet. Sometimes he'll look at me, grin, and put something on his head, asking me to say, "is that a hat?" We're not up to deep philosophical discussions, but the simple stuff is fun.
Eleanor is communicating through reading more and more. We have to be prepared to explain much more complicated subjects these days: the other day she read "We sell houses FAST!" on a sign on a telephone pole, and we tried to explain what was going on in an appropriate (and interesting) way. Today she was reading some things moms and daughters could do together. She said, "Give each other a shoulder message. Hmmm. I could tap on your shoulder 5 times and it could mean 'I love you!'" I looked at the writing, it said massage. Shoulder messages sound much more up Eleanor's line, anyway.
Amanda continues to use language creatively to communicate beyond her current vocabulary. As we drove home from church in the rain: "Mama, I want the wind whiskers to go!" Windshield wipers, anyone? For a long time when I asked "Do you want something to drink?" or some other such question, she would answer "Anything." Then she would refuse the things I gave her. This had me completely confused until I realized that it was short hand for "I don't want anything." The exchange "'Is something wrong?' 'Anything.'" means that everything is fine.
Michael wants me to let you all know that Eleanor "topped" three times while rock climbing Saturday. At least once was after she complained that she was too tired to climb anymore, but she would show me just once... I had to go get Luke from the child care center, but she kept climbing. She had to work really hard at it but she kept trying and made it to the top. I'm really proud of how hard she works at this, and how much she learns each time she goes.
Sometimes I'll tell him something that makes him mad, and he'll start bouncing up and down angrily in what is clearly a precursor to stomping feet. Sometimes he'll look at me, grin, and put something on his head, asking me to say, "is that a hat?" We're not up to deep philosophical discussions, but the simple stuff is fun.
Eleanor is communicating through reading more and more. We have to be prepared to explain much more complicated subjects these days: the other day she read "We sell houses FAST!" on a sign on a telephone pole, and we tried to explain what was going on in an appropriate (and interesting) way. Today she was reading some things moms and daughters could do together. She said, "Give each other a shoulder message. Hmmm. I could tap on your shoulder 5 times and it could mean 'I love you!'" I looked at the writing, it said massage. Shoulder messages sound much more up Eleanor's line, anyway.
Amanda continues to use language creatively to communicate beyond her current vocabulary. As we drove home from church in the rain: "Mama, I want the wind whiskers to go!" Windshield wipers, anyone? For a long time when I asked "Do you want something to drink?" or some other such question, she would answer "Anything." Then she would refuse the things I gave her. This had me completely confused until I realized that it was short hand for "I don't want anything." The exchange "'Is something wrong?' 'Anything.'" means that everything is fine.
Michael wants me to let you all know that Eleanor "topped" three times while rock climbing Saturday. At least once was after she complained that she was too tired to climb anymore, but she would show me just once... I had to go get Luke from the child care center, but she kept climbing. She had to work really hard at it but she kept trying and made it to the top. I'm really proud of how hard she works at this, and how much she learns each time she goes.
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