A "doo, doo, doo" & A "daa, daa, daa"

Reece has been very busy adding new talents to his repertoire the past few weeks. That magical transformation from baby to toddler is rapidly materializing. His calm, sweet hearted personality is blossoming. He is always smiling and pretending to be bashful to make others smile in return. His favorite location in the house is under this table, ripping the fronds from the silk fern and either gnawing them or bringing them to me like some kind of fabulous treasure:


Our days are filled with plenty of babbling. He has replaced experimental "mammamama"s and "lalalaaala"s with a more certain, "da da dada" (occasionally for the correct person) and adores making a raspberry noise with his lips. He cracks himself up (and I am pretty sure he thinks he is cracking everyone else up too) by humming and bopping the back of his hand up and down between his lips. He sings with Zach- "bop bop bop" mimicking the "bop" sound Zach makes when singing silly songs to him. I can hear a few other sounds forming, but not into actual words yet. "th" and "b" fill the gaps between the "dadee"s. I think "bu-bye" will be next.

He waves goodbye and gives "five" and though most of the time, one hand is in a fist, he clap's too.

For months, he could sit without falling over, if you placed him that way, but he has finally mastered pushing himself up on his own.

Pulling up on things is his favorite new pastime. Its hard not to feel excited and sorry for him at the same time. He pulls up in the crib and gets stuck b/c he hasn't quite mastered sitting back down. He ends up wailing to be rescued. The frustration mounts during the day, as he pulls up on the walker but each time he is about to stand, it rolls away from him and he has to start over.



He is starting to recognize when he does something that you want him to. He takes his best attempt at the request, and flashes an enormous smile seeking approval if it is even a little similar to what you suggested. For example: when he discovered that I wanted him to use drumsticks to hit the drum. He tapped a few times and then looked up with a HUGE grin, as though simultaneously proud and astonished he could do it himself, and then began to BANG as hard as he could. He is really connecting and communicating and mimicking everything.



And now for the cliche part. 8 months have come and gone faster than an express train! I am just speechless about how quickly that 1st birthday is approaching. Though, despite the swift passing of these years with the kids, I find it so overwhelmingly gratifying that I have had the opportunity to take this journey TWICE!