Dylan is so much more talented than he was a few months ago. He still loves doing baby sign language to communicate with us, including milk, hungry, banana, open, bath, hot, cold and sleepy. He makes animal noises – dog, cow, pig, monkey, lion. He says a few words, “cheese” and “hi”, and he makes some recognizable sounds, like “tzaaa” for cat and “ba-wheee” for wheee and “hoo” for shoes. He laughs like The Count from Sesame Street, slaps his hands to his cheeks and says “Aye yai yay!” and loves honking people’s noses. He is walking pretty confidently now – he can make it across our bumpy lawn without falling – but he still takes some hard falls that leave scrapes on his face. He loves taking baths and playing in the kiddie pool and dumping his water cup onto himself. He can point to his nose and ears and belly button and takes great delight in nibbling his toes. Sometimes all this learning makes him tired and crabby, but usually we just love to be around him!
We got this newfangled “iBert safe-T-seat” bicycle seat a couple of weeks ago and took it & Dylan out on their maiden voyage. He seems to like it! The seat mounts on your steerer tube (or stem) behind the handlebars, so the kid can see where he’s going instead of staring at your butt, and it’s easier to talk to him. Whether the iBert will leave any room for your knees and steering motions depends on the geometry of your frame. (The manufacturer could be a little clearer about this in their product info.)
So far, Dylan has mainly dabbled in standing on his own for a few seconds at a time, and taking a tentative step or two. Nothing to write home about. He’d do it mainly when his hands were full and he was distracted… which usually involved food. Yesterday he suddenly decided that walking was a thing worth trying. Seems like a quantum leap. Brinsley caught it on video.
(It still involves food; at the end of the clip you’ll see him finish his cucumber.)
We got all gussied up to help our friends Sean and Laura celebrate their wedding. Dylan impressed the guests with his cool seersucker suit, his ready smiles, and his ability to snack all night.