232 Days

On one of the longest, and sunniest days of the year, 232 days ago, Tyler was born sunny-side up. It is amazing what happens in 232 days. The sleepy, seven-pound cone-head with a light dusting of reddish brown hair, gray eyes and an orange tint is now a round and rosy twenty-pounder with as much personality as any proud parents would hope for. At seven and a half months, he has deep mossy brown eyes and a slightly more generous layer of hair, and babbles constantly when he is content with his place in the world. When he is most happy, his vocalizations are accompanied by a jaunty rocking side-to-side, either while seated or while standing in his exersaucer. This waving motion can be so strong that he often manages to scoot the saucer across the floor until he bumps into the coffee table.

In recent days his babbling has become more sophisticated. While aye, aye, aye, sometimes sounding like "hi", used to be his constant refrain, he now plays with da, da, ta, ta, and, ra, ra. As if to prevent Mom 's envy, he also has been known to say ma or mom. I'm sure I also heard him say dog this morning. :) X or H sounds at the back of his throat are also very satisfying. In the bath tonight, he was patting my stomach and I responded, "Mama's belly". I could of sworn, he repeated belly back to me with a Spanish "yuh" pronunciation of the l's. Sorry, Aunty Lindsay it will be a longtime before those l's are clear. I was encouraging the ra, ra for Uncle Ryan's sake though. We are much relieved that he is playing with the quality of his voice now more than the volume. Last week, he was exhausting my patience with the near screaming pitch and magnitude of his communication.

Sometimes, the experimentation with is mouth is not limited to making sounds. Twirling his tongue and manipulating his lips into asymmetrical shapes seems to occur almost unconsciously and constantly these days. Also, on the non-verbal end of the spectrum, Tyler may be beginning to use his first sign. This afternoon at play group a couple of moms noticed him balling his hands into fists repeatedly. I laughed it off, saying that Anthony had poo-pooed my claim that he was conscious of this sign's connection to milk and nursing. But then, his whining also began to indicate that, in fact, Tyler was hungry. So now I am even more deliberate about reinforcing this hand motion before and after his feedings. Other signs we use frequently include: more or again, please, Dad, Mom, and all done. Occasionally we remember to show thank you and teach more foods like apple, carrot, peas, and so on. My friend Caroline, believes her daughter, who is two days younger than Tyler, is now understanding "change" as in time to change my diaper. At any rate, I am determined to observe Tyler's hands more carefully to see if he approximates more or all done which we repeat so often.