Please forgive the ramble that is about to follow. We've had some requests for updates, so here is my best effort at relaying what's up in Winston's world.
What is Winston up to lately? Well, we’ve learned that he has a reputation at school. Uh oh! Oh no, what could it be you ask? Wait for it ……..
Our kid is the one who likes books more than toys. I LOVE IT!! He brings books to the teachers and wants them to read to him. OR he brings two books over – one for him to read and one for the teacher to read. He does this with Jay and I as well. He also likes to read books in the car.Early on I wondered how I would instill my love of books in Winston.
I have no idea what we did, but it worked. Fingers crossed it continues and only grows stronger.One offshoot of the book-lovin’ is that very often Winston will see something in a book that he knows he also has in real life and he has to go find it. For example, he sees an airplane or a truck in a book and he will run to get his toy airplane and truck. It works the other way as well. He’ll be playing with the truck for example and then stop and gets the book and flips thru to find the picture of the truck. My fave is with elephants. There are maybe 4-6 images of elephants in different books in the house. Winston also has maybe two toy elephants and one stuffed elephant. It is not unusual for Winston to gather his elephants – images and real items – together in one place. I think he’ll be a wiz at the memory card game.
Another quick example – I love this one. We were shopping in Marshall ’s this past weekend. I found a Dr. Seuss ABC book that we decided to get, so I gave it to Winston to occupy him in the cart. He looks thru it while we continue shopping, but we didn’t read it to him. Then we are in line to check-out and he keeps pointing at things on display. One of them is an octopus shaped cookie. So I show it to him and tell him what it is. He gets excited (“eh, eh eh” he says) and flips thru the Seuss book. Guess what? “O” is for octopus! He proudly found the image and showed it to me. J He read it on his own and remembered seeing it in the book.
Flash cards –We have these sign language flash cards. One side has a word and a photo. The other side has the sign for that word. Winston cares little for the sign. He just likes us to show him the cards and say the words. He will repeat the words back to us as best he can. Some of the cards get some fun reactions. The card for “ball” gets giggles and claps. I think he even said “yay” once. The card for “girl” makes him blush and giggle. The card for “milk” has two images – one of a bottle of milk, and another of a baby nursing at the breast. Winston sees the card and instead of repeating the word “milk” after us, he says “momma”. Once he even pointed at his chest. Ah, made me melt.
What else? Oh, Winston can climb onto the couch AND the coffee table. (see pix). And just this past week, on his 16 mo bday Mr. Winston discovered how to open doors. He could reach the knobs before, but didn’t understand how to push or pull the door open. Um, yeah. He’s got that covered now.
He also learned how to turn the light switch “on”. He has been able to push down for “off” but the “on” is new.
Other things? We think he’s getting another tooth. This will be #9. Not sure which one it is, but something is going on b/c he’s drooling more again and gets crabby.
He’s practicing with his toddler fork and spoon. He’s doing pretty well at it too. He seems to be losing interest in mashed up foods, unless he gets a good thing going with a spoon, but the preference seems to be on things he can pick-up w/fingers or very easily with a spoon or fork and actually chew.
Finally, Winston is following in the steps of his cousin Cameron. We will be driving down the road and come upon a large truck (of any type) and Winston yells "BIG TRUCK" (his version) and points. Sometimes we also get a "WOW" or a "Ooooooohhh!!" as well. It's fun and makes us smile. I remember Cameron doing that at about the same age.
That's it for now. We love and miss everyone and can't wait to see you soon!
