Friday, February 24, 2006

Understanding (Happy 17 months, Monkey-John)

John M. still isn't say much of anything, but I'm constantly in awe of what he understands. I use to let him off the hook for things because I'd chalk it up to 'he doesn't know any better'. Well, unbeknownst to him, I'm on to his little game. He knows; he just chooses not to listen. It's gotten to the point where he'll walk in the house, march right to the cat food dish, dump it on the floor, give me his premeditated -'Uh-Ooooh' and then fetch the dustpan and the broom and hand it to me. Can you believe him?

I was convinced of his game even more today at my mom's house. She has a pool table that he LOVES to get on top of and play with the balls. He tends to throw them or bang them hard on the table. In the past, we'd tell him not to do it and assume he just didn't 'get it', but today I explained to him that he had to ROLL the balls or he'd have to get down. He raised his little gold eyebrows at me and reared back as if he was going to throw the ball. I gave him that 'you do it and die' look and he put the ball down and pushed it gently with the back of his little hand and smiled. Little booger.

He's now saying these words (let me keep count here b/c for his 18-month check-up, they're going to ask and I'm going to be struggling to remember):

Mama (this is the most important one!!)
Dada
MawMaw
Ball
Bye-Bye
Bella (the babysitter's dog)
Gimme

I think that's it. Uh-oh, I think he's failed that part of the oral exam. Oh well. He can babble like nobody's business. That should get him some extra points.

18 comments:

Mise en Place said...

Ah, look out John....the jig is up! lol

Nicki said...

Ah-ha! You've figured him out.

I would have a hard time keeping a straight face if he came up to me with the broom and dust pan. LOL!

Anonymous said...

The cat food thing is too funny! My boy did not talk much until he reached 2is. He had his sister do all the talking for him!

Mary Tsao said...

"Little blond eyebrows"... love it! I have some of those in my life, too.

4evergapeach said...

I wish I had kept track of little things like that. Now that mine are older they are asking "what was my first word?" "when did I start walking?" etc...You would think I would remember these things. Am I a bad mother? I do remember my oldest son't first word though....."no" LOL At least yours hasn't learned that one yet;)

chesneygirl said...

I too am so AMAZED with how much Adam really understands (he'll be 20 mons Tuesday).

He also plays the same games with me, especially with any kind of ball....he now knows my "do it and die" look! :)

beki said...

His words are fine, he still has a month to learn more, then if you wait until he's 20 months before you make it to his 18 month check up like I did, you'll have plenty to report!

Speckledpup said...

too funny.
they just work us and work us.

good for you mom.

The Pup

JeepGirl said...

Damn they are so cute at this age aren't they!? My 15 month old keeps me going in many ways like your little one.
Billy still runs around saying HOHOHO - (Nice try, but I'm not buying any more gifts)

We have a trampoline too, don't have the sides. I'm thinking that I should invest in the netting sides.

Fern Bourrie said...

Those little ones.....they totally understand a lot more than we think!! Stinkers! Very cute picture!!

Lala's world said...

cute pic's...ya they are a lot smarter than we think....with my youngest I played the dumb part cuz I just wasn't ready for her to grow up!!

Lisa M. said...

I just attended a class on speech development. I met with lots of parents who had " a little late talker" I really wouldn't be that concerned. Especially since he is babbling and talking some.

I think your pictures are fantastic.

Mrs. Flinger said...

Hi! I just came from Charla's Blog (Southermom) and wanted to say hi. My daughter is 16 months and I do web design and programming, too! I love meeting fellow mommy geeks!

I have to add you to my list o' people to stalk instead of getting boring things like dishes done. :-) you son is adorable!! And his list reminds me of LB. ILt's nice to see they're on the same page.

Emily said...

Found you through my friend Jamie's blog (BlondeMom) and had to respond.

My son, Jack, is almost 22 mos. and does not say as many words as your son does! He's had a speech evaluation. The thing is, he's not frustrated by his lack of speech, and I think that's the problem - he's like "Why talk, I get what I want!"

But he understands EVERYTHING. I know that he does. And has for quite a while now. So I completely understand what you're talking about!

Beth said...

Renee...what a cute blog..I know exactly what you are talking about...I have little boy that just turned two and he is always testing the water!!! But they are such angels :-)

Ex-playgroup mommy said...

He is playing his cuteness on you!!

Krisco said...

He is so cute! And he DOES have little gold eye brows - wow! And he so understands what you're saying.

I think that's nature little way of lettin kids learn a lot before we're on to them and stop talking around them...

Ditsy Chick said...

We refer to that one as Mommy Pick-up. They train us well, don't they?