28th: I realize that Joseph signs “train” and “siren.” Both come from the “Baby’s First Noise” book that Grossmutti gave him (and where “airplane” was learned). I wonder how many other signs he does that I haven’t recognized yet. I wonder with words as well. My observation skills are lacking and I don’t know how to train them!
7th: Joseph consistently says “may” with a short vowel (rhymes with “re”) for “mommy milk.” That’s a good word to have! He’s walking more and more and while he still crawls, he will mostly choose to stand up and walk somewhere rather than crawl. He knows most of his face parts and likes to point to them on himself or me when I name them. He says “eye” fairly well. When I show him bits he always tries to say the last one I’ve shown. It’s so cute! Try “California” or “ring-tailed lemur” with a 15mos old tongue!
10th: Joseph goes from sitting to standing with a shoe in each hand (one knee to standing without support). Joseph still LOVES books. The main reason why he fusses in the day is because he wants me to start reading or doesn’t want to stop reading. I now have a spot on the couch where I sit and when I sit there he can bring me books to read. He scrambles off my lap the moment a story is finished and rushes to find another one. Then he brings it to me with the quick in-out breathing of one very excited little boy!
He says “wow” when he’s peed on the pot – in imitation of my enthusiasm, of course. He walks to the bathroom, lifts the lid, flushes (he can reach on his own now) and lower the lid softly. He still doesn’t tell us often when he needs to go – or we haven’t figure it out yet. Today (12th) he said “banana” for pot, but because he used the same word as banana and the bananas hang on the same bit of furniture the pot is (don’t ask) I didn’t realize he wanted the pot until – well, you know.
On the 8th we finally found shoes that will fit his feet. It’s getting cold and wet here and even I won’t let him out barefoot. They’re pink, but he loves them anyway. Two days later as we’re getting ready to go out and I don’t know where his shoes are I ask him to go find them for me. To my surprise (why does it still surprise me how smart kids are?!) he remembered that in the morning he’d been playing with them and had brought them into the office. He looked at me and thought a bit, then marched right into the office and picked up a shoe and brought it to me!
He knows “belly-button” in German. I was reading the body-parts book to him and when we got to the belly-button he lifted up his shirt and stuck his finger in his belly button! Daddy’s around enough for him to know a good bit of German! Stephan reports he knows “eye” in German as well, but he knows plenty more than that!
12th: Last night Joseph slept from 8:30pm to 6am without needing anything: no songs, no breast, no nothing. Wow! I woke up plenty, but how nice to just worry about myself!
Today we had another swimming date with birthday-buddy A. Joseph became positively hyper, kicking and moving his arms in the big pool and then exploring all over the kiddy pool. He’s getting good about keeping his head above water when he falls from standing and then getting back up again. It’s hard to watch him and know the right amount of intervention. Often he can fall and even have his face get submerged without any trouble. But sometimes he doesn’t hold his breath in time. He’s still alive so far . . .
I can’t keep up with all the new things he can and does do. He’s really taking off! It’s such a pleasure to be his mommy. We’re still learning about “no” and obeying, but he has made so much progress! When we go for walks and he walks down the wrong path I can call him back again and he obeys – not without some hesitation, but I’m pleased that he often makes the decision to obey. It must be such a struggle between doing what he wants and choosing to listen to Mama. If he needs a little time to make that decision, I’m happy for him to have it when it’s not critical, and he can tell by my voice when it’s really dangerous. I think I’m okay with the idea that learning to obey immediately comes gradually and can be better enforced with an older understanding. It’s funny, though. Whether he behaves well in public or poorly I’m frustrated that it’s not a true representation! We had coffee at our pastor’s house the other day and Joseph obeyed us right away when we asked him to shut the drawer he’d discovered. He shut it and went to something else and the pastor and his wife were very impressed. Stephan and I were quick to point out that that doesn’t always happen that way . . .
I think you're right that immediate obedience is a learned skill, and you no more need to insist on it at this point than you would insist on a perfect, steady, cross-pattern walk from a beginner. The real problem with delayed obedience is not when he's struggling to do the right thing, but when he's already made the choice to do what he wants until you make it impossible for him. For example, if you ask him to put on his shoes and he continues playing with his cars, not even acknowledging your request. Of course it's never nice to be pulled away from what you are doing (as any mom knows!). I liked our compromise on this (obviously when you were a bit older than Joseph is now): you were required to look up immediately and say something like, "Yes, mom," but were allowed to add, "May I finish doing X first, please?" Then we would say yes or no, depending on the urgency of our request. If you ever got distracted forgot to obey immediately after finishing X (which must have happened on occasion), it was infrequent enough that I don't remember it. And as you mentioned, there is a certain tone of voice that indicates when immediate obedience is absolutely necessary.
