Accelerated Learning Week

"Sing us a song, you're the piano man!" ~Elton John

Wow, this working outside the home stuff is really cramping my blogging style! So, here's what's been going on around here ...

This whole week has been dubbed ACCELERATED LEARNING WEEK by The Dad of The Family because of The Goose's increased walking & talking. The walking has increased in quality, while the talking has increased in quantity only.

He can now walk clear across a room and usually when he falls down, he stands up again (rather than the old crawling stand-by). In other words, he's made great strides (ha ha! I am cracking myself up with the puns.). Here's what it looks like:

"And the walkin' man walks." ~James Taylor

The talking, on the other hand, has increased in amount and has changed in nature a little. He still imitates words here and there, but the new thing is to mimic the sound of complete sentences while using the syllable "Da." And since I spent two years of my life getting a degree in linguistics, I'll go ahead and tell you that he's right on schedule. This is his way of practicing intonation. You can even tell when he's asking (questions have RISING intonation) and when he's simply pointing out something (statements have FALLING intonation). Funny, I've been practicing this with my students as well.

In other news ...

He still won't drink milk (cow's milk) very much (unless I'm at work and it's mixed into a bottle with formula). I have to be out of the house for him to drink it. And it has to be mixed with formula. And it has to be in a bottle. But I really don't think he's a picky child.

Yesterday when I dropped him off at school he didn't even cry! I think it was because Ms. Sarah was not there yet (he associates her with me leaving) and the much more animated Ms. Vicki had just pulled out a large, plastic, flatbed truck. While I snuck out of the room, The Goose was pushing around the flatbed while Warren pushed around a crib. Yeah, a big metal crib on wheels. He can push the whole thing across the carpet. He is huge. Emma was there too, with her denim dress and her white tights with purple flowers. Her fat little calves were hanging out over her white shoes (which also had purple flowers). She likes to pull up her dress and say "button!" She's 14 months and her head is covered in white, curly hair. The three of them are like a photographer's dream.

And speaking of hair ...

"Purple clover, Queen Anne lace, crimson hair across your face, you could make me cry if you don't know. Can't remember what I was thinkin' of, you might be spoilin' me too much love ... You're gonna make me lonesome when you go." ~Bob Dylan

The only other bit of news is that I have enabled commenting on this site. This means that you can now leave comments on each post. You can always leave comments about the photos, but now you can leave your mark on the actual blog itself (which, by the way, I print out monthly for posterity and put into a three-ring binder labeled "Goose Bumps" -- it's my substitute for scrapbooking. I call it "e-memories"). So, comment away!