Milestones
I was anxious for Jack to learn how to drink through a straw because this would allow me to enter the great maternal arena of the Juice Box. I am happy to report that Jack now excels at drinking from a straw and from a juice box and has also learned to squeeze the juice box so that juice squirts out of the straw all over him.
We are still anxious for Jack to start talking in earnest. It bugs me that he looks exactly like Kevin, he is big like Kevin and he is quiet like Kevin. I did all of that work and I got bupkus. And, of course, I would also like to communicate with the little angel. Right now, he communicates by pointing and saying, "Eh! Eh!" That gets old quickly. Jack also vehemently shakes his head "no" (he does not nod his head affirmatively.) He has also become a champion waver; the only problems here are that he tends to wave after the person is out of waving range and that he does a near-perfect imitation of the Queen's Royal Wave (palm facing in and lower arm at a 90 degree angle to the extended upper arm.) It's a riot. In other words, his non-verbal communcation skills are excellent (sorry, bad pun.)
Verbally, however, Jack is lagging. His big words are still Dada and Ditsy (Sydney). He is, however, using these words with almost alarming frequency. He will repeat Ditsyditsyditsy for more than half an hour, which will soon result in me running screaming from the house. Kevin taught Jack to say Dada with a prolonged first syllable and then the emphasis on the last syllable: daaaaaahDA, like Heeeere's Johnny! So, sometimes, Jack will stop saying Ditsy and say daaaaahDA daaaahDA for half an hour as I am seething and silently screaming, "Who's your Mommy?!"
Jack also has the word 'dog.' I discovered this week, though, that dog can mean anything living animal, as he was calling all the seagulls at the beach dogs, and, wouldn't you know it, they were all named Ditsy.
We also made a big leap forward in the realms of bathing: Kevin had felt that Jack was safer in the EuroBath baby tub http://www.babyage.com/i_1106_cp_goog1106_340w_primo_primo_eurobath.aspx that I had bought and loved back when Jack was a writhing infant. I thought that Jack was ready for the Big Tub, but didn't want to usurp parental authority. Last night, though, when Jack nearly impaled himself on one of the safety features of the EuroBath baby tub, I asked Kev if he thought that our little handful might be ready for the real tub, and DaDa agreed that he probably was. So, no more baby bathtub. And that's happy and sad at the same time.
Growth Spurt
Next month is Jack's eighteen-month pediatrician's visit. And I am sure that he has grown A LOT. I am anxious to see how tall he is: he is like my hollyhocks, which took over the flowerbed this summer and are nearly seven feet high. Not that Jack is seven feet high, but you get the picture.
Materialism
I haven't written about good finds and good brands lately, and I wanted to mention that I have found toys by the European toymaker Tolo at Marshall's. What I like about Tolo toys is that most of them are mechanical: no batteries, no microprocessor controlled stupid sounds, no flashing lights and no batteries to change. They are also well constructed. And Jack loves them. And, when I can buy them at Marshall's for under $10 (usually well under $10), it's nice to get a little variety.
Jack is also very taken with open-the-flap books. He LOVES them. My sister had given me one that had belonged to my nephew; it was an Arthur book in perfect condition. Our neighbor had also given Jack an open-the-flap book. They are both now nearly loved to death. So, about a month ago, Jack and I were in Harvard Square and I went to the Harvard Coop and spent a small fortune on open-the-flap books. Please know that I am all about the library, but right now, while Jack is still eating and feeling his way through books, I think that it's a little safer to own them. Jack's all time favorite book is still the Baby Einstein "Dogs" board book. And as torn as I am about Baby Einstein, it's actually a very cute book, and ends with a picture of lots of dogs sleeping and the caption, "Sometimes dogs just like to sleep." Perfect.
9:44:17 PM 
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