say cheese

Little guy spent almost the entire day in his carseat today. We went south with Gran to visit my Granny for Mother's Day. He was so sweet today. He endured shoe shopping and the mall with no complaints. I suppose that will change, with time. He is male, after all.

This morning we learned the word "cheese", and he said "please" for me to give him his sippy cup. He also learned the word "shoe" this morning when we were looking at his shoes and my shoes. I was thrilled when we walked into the shoe store (well, shoe shopping always excites me, but this was better) and he walked right over to a shoe and pointed and said "shoe". If he were 8 years old, this would mean nothing. But I didn't even prompt him to say it, and he knew what it was. The brain cells are working!

Yesterday it rained and rained and rained, and we went into his room to play. By coincidence, the toy he played with for over 20 minutes without interruption was his Noah's Ark play set. Or maybe it wasn't a coincidence. At any rate, he was having the best time putting the animals in the ark and taking them back out and putting them back in (the ark is wooden, and it's a shape sorter with little wooden animals and a Noah and wife). He was so involved in this that I decided to read him the story of Noah's Ark from his Bible story book (a Christmas gift from his Godfather). He somewhat paid attention, and he kept playing with the ark the entire time I was reading. It was a very nice rainy day activity!

Today he rode a carousel for the first time, and I wish I could describe the look on his face as the zebra he was riding went up and down. He held on with those tiny little hands, and he smiled a little, but mostly he just looked around at the lights and colors with those great big eyes cast in such a serious expression. I don't know if it was wonder and fascination or if it was dizziness and nausea, but he seemed to be having a good time.

Tonight at supper, he made friends with the child at the next table. That child was crying and screaming, and Dennis tested out a scream in imitation. We told him that we were paying enough attention to him without all that, so he stopped, but he did engage that other little boy in conversation. The entire restaurant heard and mostly enjoyed the exchange, which resembled the English language to a certain degree. Dennis charmed his way through Dothan today, as we were unable to go anywhere without everyone making a big fuss over him and his overabundance of cuteness. It must have been hard work, because he's so exhausted. He sacked out on the way home, and woke up briefly for a diaper change. He immediately went back to sleep. Tonight I think I might be able to do the same. I'm going to try my best, anyway.