Sign of the Times

Did I tell y'all about the time where Isaac was using sign language to try and communicate with me for about a week, and I totally missed it?  I know that sounds super unobservant, but although I occasionally sign a few things to my babies, I'm not very consistent, and he really did just looking like he was clapping (albeit kinda awkwardly), and since he's usually pretty psyched about eating food in his high chair, him enthusiastically clapping while having food shoveled in didn't strike me as that different.  One day though, it clicked, I noticed it wasn't just him 'clapping', but his little finger tips were coming together and it was like a light when on and I called out, "More!"  Got it.  He's signing 'more'.  (Fortunately, both clapping while eating and signing the word 'more' have the same effect -- I keep feeding him.  So, his sign was effective for him even if his Mom was a bit slow.)

Such a big boy now!  Who said he could grow up this fast?!

Since then, we've added just a few signs to his repertoire.  He made up his own sign for 'fan', which is just whirling his arm around in a large circle whenever he comes into a room with a ceiling fan.  (And, interestingly enough, he did the same sign when we were caught outside in a wind storm earlier.)  He also signs 'all done' or 'all gone'.   (I don't know if they're actually interchangeable signs or not, but we use the same sign to mean both things.)  We've also started signing 'food'.  With even just these few little signs though, Isaac's totally started throwing together simple sign sentences and 'conversations'.  Simple stuff, like, 'more food'.  And the other day when we were in Smith's and got cookies from the bakery.  I gave him a small piece of mine, and after finishing it, he looked up at me and signed, "more?"  I said, "Oh, sorry baby, I don't have any more."  He sadly put his head down and slowly sighed a very pathetic looking, 'all gone/done.'  Then the next day we were cuddling on my bed, when he looked up and noticed the fan wasn't going.  He stopped what he was doing, looked at me and signed 'fan', followed by, 'all gone/done'.  Indicating the fan was not on.  (A rarity given the temperature and my bedroom's tendency to heat up like Hades in here!)  Then he smiled and asked for 'more'.  So, I turned the fan on for him.  He was quite pleased.

He's also started shaking his head 'no' when he doesn't want something.  Which was sad today, when I had to take him to KidsCare to get checked out.  We got home from a fun day of boating at East Canyon Reservoir yesterday evening, only to find Isaac had a 102 degree fever.  Sigh.  My first concern was that his ear infection (which we're 9 days into treating with an antibiotic) had reared it's ugly head again, and we needed to get him on another round of antibiotics sooner than later.  So this morning I took him into KidsCare where I paid $20 to hear that fortunately, his ear infection looks a lot better.  Unfortunately, that means he has a new, nasty virus in his body causing these 102 degree fevers that keep coming back as soon as the Tylenol wears off.  And that, as the doctor put it, 'his ears are still filled with some fluid, which is a 'viral breeding ground' . . .'  So, he expects we'll be back in later this week with another full fledged ear infection.  'Cause this kid cannot catch a break.  You could tell this time though, that poor Isaac 'got' where he was.  Just over a week since his well child check up and immunizations, he screamed as soon as we were inside of the exam room (and royally freaked out while they were trying to do his pulse ox, with the little foot thing . . . since that's not something they typically do at doctor's appointments, I can't figure out if he remembered it from his hospital stay with RSV, or if it just freaked him out to have them messing with his feet.)   The poor boy was not a happy camper, and kept emphatically shaking his head 'no' when the doctors or nurses came towards him with thermometers or stethoscopes or that ear-looky thing.  (What is that called? Just a scope?)  Hopefully though, he'll be feeling better soon.  Maybe we'll even avoid that second ear infection (fingers crossed, not holding out hope though since my children seem contractually obligated to get every single ear infection humanely and situationally possible). 

I took a few videos the other day, 'cause it was one of those, 'Holy crap, he's growing up so fast, he's practically a kid now' kinda days.

Here he is participating in one of his favorite activities -- 'driving' his bus.  Then I ask him to dance . . . whenever he hears music, he happily just shakes his head from side to side.  Apparently this kid inherited my lack of rhythm and dance skills.  :-)

Not the best example of his AMAZING walking skills (since he walks everywhere now), since he trips on a ball only 2 seconds into the video . . . but you do get to hear him say 'ball'.

 

Unfortunately, he's not walking towards the camera in this video -- but I do think his adorable toddling in a perfect visual example of where the name 'toddler' comes from.  You can also hear a little of his talkativeness in this video.

This one you get to see him take exception with the manhandling he deals with on a daily basis (Annie does not understand the phrase, "Leave your brother alone!"  Despite hearing it approximately 12 million times a day.)  And then Ellie's sheer cheesiness.