Communicating...

I can hardly believe how much Dylan is talking now!

Seriously, when we were in Utah for Christmas, he had a handle on his animal noises and was just starting to say "car," "truck," and "uh-oh!" I could hardly wait for him to be able to tell me when he wanted something and how he was feeling.

Now he is like a little parrot. He tries to repeat everything we say, and he understands a lot of it as well. I am able to give him simple instructions and he knows what I am saying. If I tell him to "take this to daddy in the kitchen," off he toddles into the kitchen. He doesn't always relinquish said item to daddy, but he knows that he's supposed to go in the kitchen and go to dad.

When we go out for walks, Dylan loves to use his words that he knows. He points to cars and houses and cats and dogs, excited that he knows what they are. We stop to look at flowers, and we point out people wearing hats. Sometimes he knows words that I didn't teach him-like when he all of a sudden knew what a "teddy" was a few days ago. It also seems like he has more interest in things when he knows what they're called. He's playing with all his stuffed animals now that they are teddies and not just toys!

Currently we're working on colors and also names. He's just starting to grasp that I'm mama, Martin is daddy, and he is Dylan. Sometimes he calls us both daddy, and sometimes he refers to all men as daddy. But he's getting it.

Dylan's mental development is even more amazing to observe than his physical development (though that is amazing as well). He watches everything. He copies everything, too. As observed when he learned to spit from Martin a few weeks ago. He is learning to describe the world around him, and he is learning how he fits in to it. I could sometimes sit and just watch him or talk to him all day.

Martin finished his safety passport course yesterday, and he said they watched a great video to teach them about lifting techniques. It was a bunch of toddlers running around and picking things up off the floor. They played it in slow motion and described the lifting techniques used. It seems that small children automatically do it "right." They stop, plant their feet, and squat to pick things up. Their back muscles haven't developed to the point that they can bend at the waist, and their center of gravity is better that way. I remember my choir teacher in high school, Mrs. Wallace, telling us that small children breathe correctly as well. It seems like we start out doing so many things right, and have to actually learn how to do them the "wrong" way from the people around us.

What a huge responsibility, to make sure my babies do things "right." I certainly don't feel up to the task most of the time. But I love trying to do it all the same, and I love staying home with my son so that I know exactly what he's learning during this period in his development. It's such a blessing and a privilege to be a stay at home mom.

Plus, my heart melts every time Dylan calls me mama and gives me a big hug and kiss. Motherhood doesn't come naturally to me, but I love it all the same.