06 August 2009

Happy 18 Months, Nater-bug!

Naters is 18 months old today. He is a lovely, happy, healthy little boy. He is, as always, very smart. He hasn't been talking as much as some children his age do, and I was starting to get a bit worried. I knew he understood a lot of what I would say to him, because he would respond very intelligently. But why didn't he speak?! My conclusion is, he didn't bother to talk very much, because he didn't really need to; he could get what he wanted without it. He'll say some words if he wants to.

Now, he says "Mama", which he's said for a long time, actually. He also says, "Nah!", which means "nose": he will point to (or bite) your nose while saying it. I taught both of those to him. I nearly missed the first word that I didn't teach him that he said. At daycare one day, I had come to pick him up, and he was playing in the main room. I came over, and he said, "Bah!" He will produce a lot of syllables all the time, so I don't much pay attention to them, since most of them are unintelligible. This time, however, I noticed that while he said it, he was pointing to a round object a few meters away. "Bah!" Oh, yes yes yes!! I went over and rolled it back toward him. "Yes, sweetie, it's a BALL!!" I don't think I'll ever be prouder, even when he wins a Nobel Prize.

Furthermore, last weekend, we visited with my friend Spencer from work, and he has a little fluffy dog. Nathan likes cats and dogs, and he LOVES to shriek with laughter and chase them around. When he saw Spence's dog, he said, "Beppie, beppie!" Yes, PUPPY!!

He's learning more and more about everything in the world, every day.

I love you, Nater-bug!

3 comments:

Willow said...

And we love you too, Naters!
Grandma and Grandpa

Graf Spee said...

:} We're so proud of our nephew. :} And Auntie Jeffie and I love you too.

Uncle Dan

Mama Mia said...

He's such a smart little boy! Now he can also say Tickle Tickle ("Til-Til"), Down ("Dah...Dah"), and Where'd it go? ("Whawhuh go?"-- he even adds little upturned, questioning hands to this one!). What a brilliant, precious little boy! :o)