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December 30, 2004
crah-kuh
It's over.
Gus not only knows what he wants, he can ask for it!
This has been an incredible week of language growth for Gus:
-He's learned that shaking his head back and forth means 'no' (!no, I'm not ready for that one!)
-He tries to nod 'yes' but it ends up looking like his head is doing circles
-He's now signing Papa, Grandma (we think), fish (we went to the Shedd Aquarium on Monday), drink (which seems like he made up himself...for those of us who grew up in the 80s, it's strikingly similar to 'gag me', except his head is thrown back). Milk is still going strong, and Cheerios is making a comeback. He may sign Mama, but it's very similar to blowing kisses or possibly 'eating', so I can't tell yet.
-It sounds like he can say Grandma, but we're still working on that one. He definitely knows who Grandma is, especially when we ask him where she is. He always looks at her!
-He's saying CRACKER... Cracker this, cracker that, give me the damn cracker already, lady! I feel like I'm going to say this with everything he says or does, but cracker is really cute. A couple of days ago he was simply pointing in the direction of the kitchen and grunting. Yesterday and today he's pointing and saying cracker. How does a word decide to stick?
Here's a pic of Gus with is friend, Abby. Abby just moved a few blocks away, but that's not going to stop us! She's the one that's just a month older than Gus.
Shots from the Aquarium... I should note that whenever Gus saw dolphins or whales, he signed 'Zeppo'.
Here you can see the hack job I did on his bangs (don't tell... I'll never do it again!).
It has been so wonderful having all this time with Gus over the holidays. I feel like I've been hugging him just a wee bit more, a wee bit tighter, a wee bit longer after watching all of the destruction in Asia. The thought of all these children being separated from their parents, the terror and fear of that, I just can't fathom it, don't want to ever have to fathom it. We do have the TV on sometimes while we watch the footage, we talk about it a lot too, and it makes me wonder... at what point (if not already) do we shield Gus from the information overload? I already worry that he can sense that something is upsetting us, so I try and hope that our conversations aren't too emotive. When he is older and understands more, how much do you reveal? How do you explain without scaring?
I don't believe in putting Gus in a bubble (I think with the Internet and other technology that it would be impossible without removing all of those sources), but I also don't want Gus to 'catch' what I grew up with, which was the uncontrollable urge to plan for how I was going to deal with tragedy once it hit. Now, granted, I never actually had to follow through on any of my plans, but I had them. I like to think that the planning actually enpowered me, made me feel like I could 'surive' anything that I could imagine happening to me. Was I scaring myself or was I preparing myself?
In the case of the Tsunami destruction, may we all do what we can to help, and may this remind us to appreciate what we have.
Posted by janna at December 30, 2004 11:54 PM