Beware of Baby

Don't be deceived by this baby's cuteness, he pinches.

All jokes aside, Joey has learned to pinch and he is quite good at it. I seriously need to trim his nails every three days especially since he's learned this latest trick. Joey is fascinating to observe from day to day, he takes in so much of what goes on around him and he picks up on how things work so quickly it amazes me.

I put up one of Joey's crib toys in the last week. It looks like an aquarium, it lights up and plays music when you press a button. I've shown Joey what it does, at that time he didn't seem at all interested. Since then I have laid Joey down in his crib with his head near the toy pressed the button so it would play for him while I left the room for a moment. Upon returning I was surprised to find that Joey had wiggled and scooted around to where he had his feet towards the toy and he was kicking it, pressing the button in doing so. I didn't realize right away when I returned what was going on because the toy was off. I pushed the button to make the music play and when I did Joey kicked it shutting it back off. We went back and forth like that for a minute, it became a game. I stopped pressing the button but Joey kept on kicking it turning it off and on repeatedly, he was so pleased. I really think Joey enjoys toys that he can control, he enjoys a little octopus toy that you pull a teether style toy and it plays a short verse of music and now the crib toy seems a good fit too.

Joey is growing so quickly and learning so much. He is fascinated by his toes. Joey is not quite sitting on his own yet but he is getting closer every day. He wants to be able to do this though so we will hold him in a sitting position, with his interest in his toes though I frequently have to stop him from leaning to far forward if I didn't he'd topple over.

Joey is also becoming increasingly vocal. He makes all sorts of sounds and he's beginning to make strange faces while he's talking which is beginning to change the sounds he makes. I hear all sorts of things forming in his language. Several days in a row now I've heard him repeat back sounds to me. In the evening when we're winding down I'll cradle him in my arms and we stare at each other. I will tell him "I love you" and he will repeat the sounds ah uh oo. It is just the sweetest sound ever. This evening while getting him ready for bed I heard a more distinct mmm sound I nearly jumped when he did it I thought he was going to say mama.

I talk to Joey all the time. I'm trying to not baby talk him too much since I've read that its better for his vocabulary in the long run not to baby talk to him too much. But I do repeat key sounds to him that I think will help him observe the sound and how they are formed. I frequently repeat the sounds ma ma ma ma, da da da da and ba ba ba ba. I do lessen the gap now and then creating the words mama, dada and baba. Till Joey is ready though Jamie and I will be listening intently when he speaks anxiously awaiting his first words.