Wagging Tongues

This past weekend (August 25-26), Kenshin has started to babble. He's previously been making noises; cooing and gurgling and squawking, but hasn't been stringing them together into a sequence of connected sounds. Now he's "bah-bah-bah"-ing and "goo-goo-goo"-ing with the best of them.

It was funny to observe him work up to this level. On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, I noticed that he was working his jaw open and shut in a sort of silent version of babbling - not making any noise. At the time I commented to Marli that it'd be funny to just overdub a video of him with some sort of voice track.

Then, after three days or so of this, he connected the idea of opening and closing his mouth with making sound at the same time and voilà, he had made the leap to babbling.

At the same time, in the past three weeks while we were on vacation and the week since, he's steadily improved his ability to push up and roll over, to the point that we have to be careful of putting him down on couches and chairs without a healthy padding of pillows to prevent him rolling off and onto the floor.

He's developed a cute habit which will probably pass quite quickly; he occasionally sticks his tongue (a tiny, pointed red-pink flag tip) out one side of his mouth or the other. It's almost too cute, but the fact that he's doing it without prompting or self-consciousness keeps it from slipping into the saccharine.

On the Daigoro front, he's still testing the limits of saying no to various commands, suggestions or requests. It can be wearisome at times, to say the least, and I feel for Marli for having to deal with him all day long. Fortunately these episodes are not so frequent as to make dealing with him a constant chore.

We've been able to "upgrade" his sleeping arrangements into a small cot without much fuss. He rolls about quite a bit at night, so we didn't want to put him into a full size bed yet for fear of the dreaded "thunk" in the middle of the night (as has happened once or twice when he's been left to sleep in full-size beds. Marli made the observation (and I agree) that it's curious that Daigoro hasn't formed strong attachments to single objects or routines. He doesn't really have a favourite toy or stuffed animal; he didn't protest at all when we stopped putting him in the crib and started him sleeping in the cot; he doesn't seem to bat an eye when our routine is shifted slightly or we do something out of the ordinary. In one sense I am grateful, in another I wonder if there is something to the idea of children having strong attachments. I guess he would make a good Buddhist. Well, in this one sense, anyway.

While on vacation, my in-laws made helpful suggestions about higher levels of discipline and obedience. Though I feel we've made a good effort along these lines, I admit that we can do better. In the larger spectrum, I know that Daigoro is actually quite a bit better in terms of obedience and temper tantrums than many children, but it's easy to bristle at correction from elders, even if meant with the best of intentions. So, I think Marli and I will be working a little harder on the concept of obedience with Daigoro over the next few months. My in-laws certainly have valuable experience on the subject.

Our efforts at potty training are so far met with sporadic success. He's managed to let us know on a few occasions now, but his successes are far fewer than his accidents. Nothing to worry about yet, of course; just unfortunate that he hasn't gotten the knack of yet, considering how well he seems to catch onto other activities.

Daigoro's dietary preferences have narrowed to an even thinner range of carbs and sweets, a development which does not please us. There are nights when he eats quite well, on many others he is getting a less than optimal balance. We are spending some time and discipline on this - future health depends a lot on his learned habits now.

The stresses of childcare continue to put strains on the time Marli and I spend together. Fortunately we are learning to adapt both our activities and our expectations and I am thankful for a partner who is willing to discuss issues before they become deep-rooted problems.

We took the children to visit my sister this weekend - she lives in a very nice apartment building with a penthouse level swimming pool. Both Daigoro and Kenshin seemed to enjoy their time in the water, though Daigoro is still reluctant about floating and kicking, preferring instead to be passed from one adult to another.

There are a number of stories from our vacation on Manitoulin Island that I should also relate, many of them very fond memories, but I should sign off for now and save them for another entry.