A few weeks ago Tom and I were talking about Donovan and his development. We both felt for some reason that he was right at the cusp of a big change, like he just needed a few more synapses to start firing and we would have a big boy on our hands. Well just as we thought that change has happened. I don't know what is was but he is learning so fast and showing us just how smart of a little boy he is. Here are some of the things that he has been doing.
~He now says several words and understands what they are. Petey (te-te), Ball (bol), Hat (haTTT), and light (ight). He will imitate and repeat what you say for several other things. I have gotten him to say "ruff ruff ruff", "book" and few others I can't think of off the top of my head. The most impressive thing to me though is how much he comprehends. I said to him the other day, "Donovan, can you come over here and give Mama kisses?" and he walked clear across the room and open mouth kissed my cheek. Then later I asked "Donovan, can you go get Mama a book and bring it to me?" and he walked across the room, got a book and brought it back to me to read it to him. Today I asked him to bring more random things to me like my cell phone and wallet and both times he did it right away. In the bath tonight I held up a ball and asked he what it was and he said ball. He still pretends like he has hearing loss when I tell him "no" but I know he knows a lot more than we realize now.
~A few weeks ago I was watching Donovan read books to himself and if he would pick the book up upside-down he would open it, and then realize it was the wrong way and then turn it right side up. Every time. I was so cute. I had no idea he realized what was up and down.
~Every so often we have a lady from Parents as Teachers come and talk with us about Donovan's development and things we should be doing to help him learn and develop appropriately. One of the toys she brought was an empty juice jug with a small opening that she wanted him to put clothes pins in to practice his dexterity. He took to it right away and loved doing it. One thing we all noticed though is that he definitely favors his right hand. He would pick the pin up and use his left hand to help get the pin in the best position, then take it and put it in with his right hand. It didn't matter where we placed the jug in relation to his body, he did it like that every time. The PAT lady said that he was the youngest she has seen that favored one side so distinctly. She was also impressed with his block stacking ability. He was able to stack 4 blocks no problem when we prompted him to.
~We have been using sign language for a long time now to help supplement his language. Up until recently he had used the "milk" sign for everything he wanted. Last week though I was reading his color book to him and I pointed to the picture of a glass of milk and he signed "milk". Finally he gets it. And he knows and uses the sign for "fan" when he wants us to look at the fan or turn it on. We have also started using the sign for "more" which he learned in a hurry since we were teaching him "more" when he was eating fries and he really wants more fries, so he was motivated to learn that in a hurry.
There are lots of other little things he does on a daily basis that amaze me but for the sake of time and your boredom factor, I will keep those to myself. I just can't believe how big and smart he is getting. Things are about to get real interesting!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Little Helper
Last weekend we got new couches that we have been dreaming about getting for a long time from Ikea. The best part of them is that they are slipcover couches so when they inevitably get dirty we can just take the covers to the dry cleaners. We figure that is a must with a messy child. The bad part of the deal was that the couches were delivered in boxes and had to be put together. Luckily my parents and sister were in town so we had plenty of hands and help and it turned out that it wasn't that hard to assemble the couches. Not to be outdone by everyone, Donovan decided that he wanted to help. He chose the supervisor/inspector position and did quite well I must say. Here's the proof.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Laumeier Sculpture Park
This afternoon some powerful storms blew threw the area and cooled everything down nicely. So we took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked around Laumeier Sculpture Park. We had a great time watching Donovan explore and walk most of the time (as opposed to just being pushed around in the stroller). He stuck to the paved walkways until he saw a robin and then he sprinted into the grass to get that bird. It reminded me of when I was a kid and all I wanted to do (or so my parents tell me) was chase birds. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I also noticed today that every airplane or bird that flew overhead got Donovan's attention. He would point and "talk" about it until it was out of view. Very cute.
Walking around like a big boy.
In front of one of the more popular sculptures.
Handing daddy mommy's sunglasses so he could help Dono put them on. (His new thing is to walk around and wear my sunglasses for a few minutes at a time. He needs help getting them on still though).
A little crooked but who cares.
That's better.
Dang that robin is just too fast!
And the perfect dinner, according to Donovan, to end the day is Five Guys french fries. MMMMMMmmmmmmmm! (Don't worry he doesn't eat this kind of stuff often)
Walking around like a big boy.
In front of one of the more popular sculptures.
Handing daddy mommy's sunglasses so he could help Dono put them on. (His new thing is to walk around and wear my sunglasses for a few minutes at a time. He needs help getting them on still though).
A little crooked but who cares.
That's better.
Dang that robin is just too fast!
And the perfect dinner, according to Donovan, to end the day is Five Guys french fries. MMMMMMmmmmmmmm! (Don't worry he doesn't eat this kind of stuff often)
Hey who's driving this thing?
Donovan loves his cozy coupe, but every time he climbs in to go for a ride, he sits backwards. So we push him around facing the wrong way. Good thing he's not ready to drive for real, we would have some major problems.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
New business
I have some new Donovan business to discuss. Let's begin.
1) Yesterday Donovan popped his 6th tooth. It is on the R lower side. He acted no different. Not crabby, not drooly, not snotty. We have it good in that department.
2) Donovan loves to wrestle on our bed! He climbs up Petey's step and throws his upper body onto the bed excitedly until he either manages to boost himself up on the bed or someone else does it for him. Then when he gets up there he sits and smiles and bounces until someone tackles him. Then the wrestling and tickling commences and lasts until he lets you know the fun is over. I tried to get some video of it the other day but as soon as he saw the camera that was all he wanted and happy-fun wrestling was done.
3) When Donovan is happy (for example he is on the bed being wrestled with) he sometimes does what I can only refer to as "happy feet". He sits with his legs in front of him and then kicks, kicks, kicks them in the cutest manner.
4) Donovan knows how to brush his own hair! Jenna and I were dressing him after his bath on Sunday and he was playing with his toys and picked up his brush, and brushed his hair with it! Attempted to brush is more like it as the bristles were facing out but I was amazed he just knew what to do with it. Then same thing today, a brush was in the toy box so when he picked it up he "brushed" his hair again. Then even more impressive was he did it with a comb that I don't use very often so I was happy that he put the association together there. The cutest part to me about him brushing his hair is that he does it without even glancing at you, all nonchalantly like "Oh here's a brush. I guess I gotta brush my hair" not "look how smart I am, I brush my hair!"
5) His second official word that he uses appropriately (first is Petey, who is every dog) is "light". Or "ight" as he says. He is very stingy when he says it. You have to say it about 5 times while pointing at a light before he does and he only occasionally performs but it still counts.
6) Donovan is a runner. Tom said today that now when he has to chase him outside, he actually has to chase him or else you cannot keep up.
7) He likes to brush his own teeth. And he loves his toddler toothpaste. You just put a tiny bit on, brush his teeth for him for real for a few seconds and then he insists on taking over. That usually consists of him chewing and sucking on the toothbrush but occasionally I catch him shaking his head like he is actually brushing his teeth. Could be a cute coincidence but I think he is mimicking what we do to him and how we brush our own teeth.
1) Yesterday Donovan popped his 6th tooth. It is on the R lower side. He acted no different. Not crabby, not drooly, not snotty. We have it good in that department.
2) Donovan loves to wrestle on our bed! He climbs up Petey's step and throws his upper body onto the bed excitedly until he either manages to boost himself up on the bed or someone else does it for him. Then when he gets up there he sits and smiles and bounces until someone tackles him. Then the wrestling and tickling commences and lasts until he lets you know the fun is over. I tried to get some video of it the other day but as soon as he saw the camera that was all he wanted and happy-fun wrestling was done.
3) When Donovan is happy (for example he is on the bed being wrestled with) he sometimes does what I can only refer to as "happy feet". He sits with his legs in front of him and then kicks, kicks, kicks them in the cutest manner.
4) Donovan knows how to brush his own hair! Jenna and I were dressing him after his bath on Sunday and he was playing with his toys and picked up his brush, and brushed his hair with it! Attempted to brush is more like it as the bristles were facing out but I was amazed he just knew what to do with it. Then same thing today, a brush was in the toy box so when he picked it up he "brushed" his hair again. Then even more impressive was he did it with a comb that I don't use very often so I was happy that he put the association together there. The cutest part to me about him brushing his hair is that he does it without even glancing at you, all nonchalantly like "Oh here's a brush. I guess I gotta brush my hair" not "look how smart I am, I brush my hair!"
5) His second official word that he uses appropriately (first is Petey, who is every dog) is "light". Or "ight" as he says. He is very stingy when he says it. You have to say it about 5 times while pointing at a light before he does and he only occasionally performs but it still counts.
6) Donovan is a runner. Tom said today that now when he has to chase him outside, he actually has to chase him or else you cannot keep up.
7) He likes to brush his own teeth. And he loves his toddler toothpaste. You just put a tiny bit on, brush his teeth for him for real for a few seconds and then he insists on taking over. That usually consists of him chewing and sucking on the toothbrush but occasionally I catch him shaking his head like he is actually brushing his teeth. Could be a cute coincidence but I think he is mimicking what we do to him and how we brush our own teeth.
Lone Elk
Sunday was pretty hot and sunny so we didn't want to do too much outside so we took a drive through the lovely Lone Elk park. Before we drove through we hit up the World bird sanctuary. We walked down a long gravel road that has all different kinds of birds on both sides that have been injured in the wild and can no longer live on their own. It's pretty cool because you can get pretty close to them and there are lots of different large birds of prey to see. Donovan loved it... and when I say "it" I mean the gravel road. All these cool birds and all he wanted to do was croutch down and pick up rocks and try to eat them. Then when he finally would give that a rest and actually pay attention to the birds, the birds he loved the most and was mesmerized by were the pigeons in the pigeon coupe. I mean there were bald eagles, golden eagles, tons of owls, turkey vultures and 2 white pelicans and he couldn't walk away from the pigeons. We can see those in our back yard if we want to. Oh well. Tom and my favorite part was the Raven that would clearly say "hi". It sounded just like Donovan as he says "hi" all the time and very clearly.
Our drive around Lone Elk was very successful! We saw lots of bison (and 4 baby bison too!), wild turkeys and... what do you know, a lone elk. Here are the boys enjoying the animals.
Who am I kidding, they both could have cared less! This is what the two of them were doing (not looking at the animals at all) as I was acting like a fool and pointing excitedly to the animals to try and get Donovan's attention. Maybe he will enjoy it more in a few months.
Our drive around Lone Elk was very successful! We saw lots of bison (and 4 baby bison too!), wild turkeys and... what do you know, a lone elk. Here are the boys enjoying the animals.
Who am I kidding, they both could have cared less! This is what the two of them were doing (not looking at the animals at all) as I was acting like a fool and pointing excitedly to the animals to try and get Donovan's attention. Maybe he will enjoy it more in a few months.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Penelope
Thursday June 3rd at 7:23pm our good friends Kris and Lynn welcomed their daughter Penelope into the world! Mom and baby are doing very well and I was lucky enough to be there for some of their labor and recovery. Yesterday we got to go up and visit them so that Donovan could finally meet his future girlfriend (ok, he has a lot. He's kind of a flirt). He wanted to make a good first impression so he got all fancied up for her. He looks so handsome! I think Penelope thought so too!
He was such a wiggle worm this was the best picture we could get of them together at first. Before this picture when I was holding Penelope, Donovan came over and gave her a quick look over and then decided she was pretty boring and moved on. In his defense she was sleeping the whole time we were there.
He was such a wiggle worm this was the best picture we could get of them together at first. Before this picture when I was holding Penelope, Donovan came over and gave her a quick look over and then decided she was pretty boring and moved on. In his defense she was sleeping the whole time we were there.
Time to get down. There are things I must get into.
Donovan, new momma Lynn and baby Penelope. True love.
"Hey look at that thing. What is it?"
After the big date we went to Tom's parents to celebrate Uncle Nick's birthday. The grandparents didn't put the remotes out of reach like they usually do and Donovan took full advantage of it. He was in heaven.
A cute picture of Dino and his grandpa.
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