Random bits

1. Part of our evening routine is that Simon gets a "tubby" every night. Whether he actually needs one every night is debatable, but it's become part of the routine and he really loves it. Lately, though, it has become very important to drain all of the water BEFORE taking him out of the tubby. He was having fits at the end of tubby time every night, until I started draining all of the water first. Now he still sometimes protests, but at least seems to understand that the water being "ah gone" means that tubby time is over.

2. He knows all of his colors, though he still won't say "orange" or "yellow." He'll point to them if you ask him to point to something orange or yellow, but doesn't want to say them yet. He does say wed, geen, boo, puh-boo, back, bown, white and peek (pink). Purple was his original favorite, but lately he seems like geen and bown the best.

3. He can say one and two, and understands their meanings. For example, he'll show you that he has two grapes ("two geep!"), and then he'll put one in his mouth and hold up the remaining one and say "one". Yesterday we saw two school buses when we were stopped at a traffic light, and he said "two bus!" He doesn't yet understand any number higher than two, though he will say three if asked.

4. I'm amazed at some of the concepts he picks up on. One day I used the word "heavy" to describe something, and he's since demonstrated that he totally gets what "heavy" means and he uses it in its proper context. Also, he seems to have no problem with the fact that "on" and "off" each mean two different things - as in turning something like a light or a toy on and off, or putting an object on a table or taking it off. He also knows verbs such as eating ("eee-ding"), sleeping (hee-bing") and cooking. He's also starting to pick up on plurals, and the use of "s" at the end of something indicating possession (pointing to my shoes or my bag and saying "Mommy's!")

5. Simon's first three-word sentence: "Bye-bye gabah gak." (Bye-bye garbage truck)

6. Cookie Monster may have replaced Elmo as his favorite Sesame Street character ("Cooo-kee!"). He can also identify Big Bird ("Bee Boo"), Oscar ("Ok-ah"), Ernie ("Eee-nee"), Grover ("goo-vah") and Abby. We have shown him many of the "Classic" Sesame Street clips on YouTube and he loves them. We also got the 3-CD set called "Sesame Street Old School" for Christmas, and he loves listening to them in the car.