Kisses

Last week Jeffrey discovered how to give kisses. He's always been a great mimic. He tries to copy words and actions he sees and some he picks up on very quickly. He was smacking his mouth after a meal and I said something like "Are you giving kisses?" and gave him a big smile. So for the rest of the week I'd say something like "Kisses Jeffrey" and make a kissing noise. He'd look back at me and start making his kissy noises. A few days ago I said "Kisses Jeffrey" and left out making the kissing sound and he erupted into the longest bout of kisses I've seen. It must have been because of the look on my face when he did it. He was so proud of himself.

He's always seemed a little slower than Erin on picking up on verbal cues. He has his very own language full of inflection and pauses etc... but there are very very few discernible words. He clearly says "daddy" but not always when looking at Tom, and mama is a "once in a blue moon" occasion. I do the typical thing - I name everything he's holding etc... but he seems slower to pick up on it.

Jeffrey is clearly more physically oriented than Erin ever was. It seems he is picking up faster on naming actions rather than items. When he's done eating, rather than make a fuss he simply throws all the food onto the floor and starts rocking back and forth in his booster. So I started looking at him in the eye and asking him to say "All Done." For the first week or so I'd get some kind of response, and that was good enough. As long as it sounded vaguely like "All Done" he could get down. Well this morning I looked at him and said, "What do you say?" and he quickly responded "All done." That's a huge step forward for him.

So although when we go to Dr. Quillian in a month I may not be able to admit he says "Mommy," "Daddy," "Ball," "Cup" like many kids his age we might be able to say that he says "All Done" and "Uh Oh". Who knows?

Just another reminder that Jeffrey and Erin are so different sometimes I wonder if they really are related at all.