Isaac is also talking. Last week when I was off for spring break, he said one or two new words almost every day. I've lost track of how many words he's said, but let's see if I can remember some of them.
Isaac can say Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, Granddaddy, Doug, and girl. Isaac also says yea, no, and ma'am, but I'm still working on getting him to put yes/no and ma'am together. (I really debated about that one. My parents never taught me to say that, but I figure if he's going to live in the south, I better do it. Otherwise, people will think he's being rude.) He also says up, down, dog, uh-oh, bye-bye, thank you, and Bible. Less frequently, he says paper, book, door, bubble, bird, bear, and diaper. A few times, he even said Pooh bear. One morning, I picked him up out of his crib, and he started pointing toward his dresser saying, "Pooh bear, Pooh bear." (There was a picture of Pooh bear on the dresser.) He's also pointed at his high chair and said the same thing, which is a sign of intelligence. Some kids don't know that a sweater is still a sweater when it's moved to another room or a different color.
Isaac's receptive language has also been amazing. He can understand quite a bit. One night, we had started the bedtime routine, and he got really fussy because he still wanted to play. I started talking to him, saying, "Isaac, it's time for your bath now. Daddy's getting your bath ready. You're going to take a bath, read some stories, and then go to bed." He calmed down immediately. When I hold out my arms and say, "Do you want to come to Mommy?" he knows exactly what I mean. And I could go on.
I attribute most of this to all of the books we've read to Isaac, from the time he was in my womb until present. He is a child after my own heart, who has a voracious appetite for reading books. He will bring us books and fuss and carry on until we stop whatever we're doing to read to him. Another contributing factor is all the interaction he gets on a daily basis. I've been talking to him since he was in my womb, and I've continued to talk to him about every little thing we do around the house and when we're out and about. Plus, he is getting almost one on one attention during the day when he's at Linda's house.
I've also had to start disciplining Isaac, believe it or not. (Note: By discipline, I do not mean spanking. Discipline comes from the word disciple, and it means to teach. Spanking has its place, but will be used very, very sparingly in our home.) Isaac has started to show his pretty strong will - and I have no idea where he gets that from ;) - lately, in the form of hitting and biting. These aren't things that happen every day. I've noticed Isaac does those things when I take him away from doing something before he's ready. (And since I've realized that, I've been working on helping him transition from one activity to the next.) Last week, for example, I took him to the beach on Jekyll Island. He really enjoyed standing in the water and watching the waves roll in. When I picked him up, he bit my shoulder! So far, I've just been saying "No bite" and pulling him away from me, which seems to work. With the hitting, he does it for the same reason. Then I say, "No hit. Nice touch," and show him how to touch my face gently. He really started to "get it" by the end of the week last week. Before I could take his hand, he would start rubbing my face very gently.
Then over the weekend, he was around some people who thought hitting was funny, so now we're back to square one. But that's ok. These things are going to take time, and I'm not going to give up. I realize by talking to some very wise older mothers that everything I'm doing right now is setting the stage for how he will treat me later in life. If I let him disrespect me physically now, he'll do it with words later. And if he doesn't learn how to respect his parents, he'll never respect anyone else. I've seen that all too often in teaching.
Now, for the long-awaited one year old pictures. We had them taken on 2/27/09, and they finally came in about a week ago. We had these pictures made by Olan Mills, through Wes's parents' church. So the first picture is a shot of all of us. The second picture is Isaac's official one year old photo, which is now proudly hanging on my living room wall.
Seated, L-R: Wes, Jennifer, Isaac, & Doug; Standing: Danny, Terry
I know I'm a little biased, but...isn't he the most adorable thing you've ever seen???
Stay tuned. There's more to come soon about spring break and Isaac's very first Easter egg hunt.
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