excerpt: I just watched him for a few minutes. He was standing up in the armchair, his hand inside the translucent shade of the floor lamp. I almost jumped up to stop him from tipping it over or getting burned by the lightbulb, but then I realized that he had his hand up against the shade and was watching his hand's shadow move in front of the light.
excerpt: This morning I read Marvin K. Moony, Will You Please Go Now to Damian. I read "You can go by a --" and heard a little voice say "zike bike" and I read on: "Zike Bike if you like." Cool. Next line I read: "If you want, you can go in an --" Little voice: "old blue shoe." Who's reading to whom?
excerpt: Tonight Damian clambered onto his changing table via the tiny ledges on the dresser shelves. He was very pleased with himself. When I called out to Dan to tell him what Damian had done, Damian repeated it to himself, storing his feat in his memory banks: "Damian climb up changing table."
excerpt: Damian wanted to nurse. I sat in the armchair, boppy in my lap. He trotted over and announced, "ready, honey."
excerpt: Tonight while hanging out and playing together on the bed, Damian suddenly said, "Bumblebee."
"Bumblebee?" I replied, intelligently.
"Bumblebee eat.
"What does a bumblebee eat?"
"Bumblebee eat carrot."
excerpt: Last night Damian woke up at 3:15 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep till, oh, 6 a.m. Ugh. He wasn't crying, though, at least there's that. At some point, I said, "you have to try and sleep." He replied, very clear, "My tail is caught and I cannot sleep."
excerpt: Last night Damian woke up at three a.m, didn't end up going to sleep till after 6. At one point, he hopped off the bed and went padding into the kitchen. I could see the fridge light go on. Dan got up and scooped him up, taking him off to rock for a while. He told me later Damian was standing there pointing at foods and naming them: "waddamelon" etc. At four a.m.
excerpt: His first pun? Tonight while he was bouncing around in his crib (is he going to miss that crib when his bed comes in a few weeks?), he was tossing around a stuffed fish. Salmon, to be exact. And said: "salmon let me be." ("Sam, you let me be", from Green Eggs and Ham.)
excerpt: I've discovered he has different styles with different caretakers. If Jami says "let's go to the changing table to change your diaper," Damian gleefully runs to the changing table. If I say the same exact thing, he gleefully runs in the opposite direction. In fact, I've noticed that if he comes up to me during the day and then immediately runs away, wanting me to chase him, it means he needs a diaper change!
excerpt: This morning my little boy who rarely uses words to ask for what he wants got up on the couch and said "get me some food." So I did. Maybe we should work on "please"...?
excerpt: You know how teenagers in rural areas go cow tipping? Damian's discovered a variant, known as cat tipping.
excerpt: A new trick, as of the past week or so: he tries to match his step to mine when we're walking and says "big giant steps."
excerpt: A big milestone today: Damian's first haircut.
excerpt: Dan and I were in the kitchen tonight. Damian whizzed through, said "I be right back" and disappeared into the living room.
excerpt: I sang "Summertime." He said, "don't cry" just before I sang "hush little baby, don't you cry." After I finished the song, I said, "that's right, 'don't you cry,' that's the song." He said "don't cry" again and started to cry! I'm talking big fat tears. After a few moments, he said "stop crying" and stopped. It took a moment to compose himself. Then he said "no tears" and then "wipe my tears." So I wiped his tears away.
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copyright 2001 Tamar