Words, 16 months

Paul still doesn’t talk much. He finds pointing efficient enough and doesn’t understand why words are necessary. He understands what we’re saying, responds with head nods, and follows instructions. We know he knows the words, because if he really needs them, he uses them. He just prefers not to.

Apparently one day when he and Meg were fighting over who got to sit in a chair at Grandma’s he finally turned to her and said “NO, NO.” He’s refused to say no again.

We went to Homecoming at Iowa State on Saturday and Paul slept the whole car ride there. When he woke up and didn’t recognize the scenery outside his window, he said Mama?! That’s still one of the only time he’s said it on purpose. (Pretty much the only thing he does say is mo, for more food, which can sound like ma. Especially when he says mo! mo!)

When we were leaving the hospital after visiting my sister’s new baby, he said bye! to the baby. He won’t say it to anyone else, just waves. It was like that episode of Friends where Ben says hi. Everyone in the room was saying “bye! bye!” in a high baby voice. We didn’t want to leave, just had him keep repeating it!

One of these days he’s going to bust out full sentences on us, I know it. He seems to be one of those kids who wants to know he can do something perfectly before diving in. It can get frustrating at times, but I kind of love his cute little signs and pointing. It’s one of those things I know is ending soon, so I’m trying to soak it up.

(Oh, and he pretty much doesn’t say anything in this old post anymore. Not even kitty! But he does call the cat “meow” now, which is even cuter. “EEowwww! EEowwww!” He also says woof and moo. Animals are his favorite.)