Kitty & Dog

Simon really likes this video:



And, for some reason, he also likes this one:

Words & Such

Simon has a lot of words, but only a few sounds. It gets confusing. "Bah" can mean "ball," "bye," "phone," or "Buddha" (there's a statue of Buddha in a neighbor's yard). "Mah" can mean "more," "mommy," "milk," "mush" (from the book Goodnight Moon), "moon," or "man." "Gah" can mean "clock," "car," "cat," or "can" (as in "trash can"). "Dah" can mean "dog," "Esthela" (the babysitter), "daddy," or "duck." He's starting to add nuances to his pronunciations, though. More and more often he says "mama" and "dada" to call Michael and me. "Moon" is often "moo" and not just "mah." "Man" is often "maa" (same vowel sound as in "bad").

He's added a new sound recently: "beh" (the same vowel sound as in "bed"). This sound means "bear," "belt," or "pear."

He's also started (just barely) communicating two ideas in one "sentence." Earlier today he was holding a phone and looking outside to the street. He looked at me and said, "bah, gah," which means "phone, car." He was holding the phone and looking at cars driving by.

What else? He calls my father "bah bah" (for "papa") and he calls his cousin Aidan "ay!" (the exclamation point is intentional; he gets so excited when he plays with him.)

Rainy Days

It's been cold and rainy for nearly a week. Simon's got a mild cold, just a runny nose so far, but he still wants to run around and dance. He also wants to spend a lot of time outside. Yesterday it rained fairly steadily throughout the day, so he didn't get to go outside much. At 9:30 in the evening Simon walked over to his Baby Bjorn carrier which was in a heap at the foot of the couch. He picked it up by one of the straps and held onto to me with his other hand. He walked me to the front door and tapped the carrier against it. He looked up at me with hopeful eyes. He wanted to go for a walk in his carrier. It was so sweet and so sad. It was super cold out, so I had to say no.

Simon's newest word is "car," or as he says, "gah." When do babies start putting the ends on words? Simon's main words:

Moh (more)
Bah (ball)
Dah (dog)
Duh (duck)
Gah (car)
Moo (moon)
Bah bah (bye-bye)
Bee bee (belly button)
No
Dada
Mama
Baby

He says other words now and then--like "mow" (mouse)--but these are the ones he uses the most.

The sun is starting to come out. Maybe it'll be warm enough (and dry enough) for Simon to play outside.

Dancing to the Rutles

Some Dancing

Simon has become a dancing fool. A couple of nights ago Michael and I were showing Simon random music videos on YouTube. We started with some reggae, then moved on somehow (related videos?) to Fun Boy Three, which led, inevitably, to Bananarama. Eventually, "I'm Your Venus" came on. Simon loved it. He went into a dancing frenzy. Two minutes or so into the frenzy, Michael turned to me and said, "You should be filming this." Of course! I grabbed the camera and got the tail-end of the fury.



Then, the next morning, Simon demanded more videos on Daddy's computer. He liked this one:



He's got some nice moves, that guy.

By far, his favorite band is the Rutles. I grabbed my Rutles cd one day while searching for Simon-friendly music. I figured I'd give it a shot. I was surprised by how much Simon liked it. He asks to listen to it sometimes--by walking over to the cd player in his room and dancing while giving me a "please, Mommy" look. Video of Simon dancing to the Rutles to follow.

Pretty Boy

Here's Simon looking fabulous in a blonde wig. About a month ago Michael, Simon, and I traveled to the wig store after hours to let a friend borrow a wig for a film project. Simon and I browsed the hundreds of wigs on display, and I chose what I thought would be a ridiculous style for Simon to try on. Turns out he looked pretty good. He didn't hate it either. Michael took this picture with his iPhone, and he finally sent me a copy.

Simon Loves the Drums!