More milk!

Moriarty amazes me all the time, but this week he formed his first completish sentence, which was "more milk". He has known how to sign both words for a while but I'd never heard him say either. This particular morning I'd given him a small glass of milk and after he finished it he looked at me and said out loud, more milk. I was a bit surprised given both the phrase and being spoken, so then he signed more as if to say "duh, Mom. I said MORE MILK!" It was pretty exciting. He gets to practice saying "more" a lot because I have been giving him his drinks in regular cups most days (they're small, but not sippy cups). He loves this because another of his favorite meal-time practices is to plop whatever he's eating into these cups (of water or milk) and then rescue his food either with his hand or by drinking the food. He does this with everything. Oatmeal, sausage, bread, banana, watermelon, whatever. At first I tried to discourage it but it makes him so happy and he does eat it, just in his own special way. He hardly ever drops/throws food on purpose. His spoon skills are also improving though he does enjoy just using his hands. 

In addition to drinking solid food out of cups he's started mimicking me because he's seen me drink the milk from my cereal bowls. He tries to drink food out of his yogurt or soup bowls which either doesn't work (yogurt doesn't flow that well) or works too well (leek soup does). The last cute dining moment was when he reached for my napkin and I handed it to him. I wasn't sure if he'd rip it up or use it as a hat, but I was curious. Instead he brought it to wipe his mouth then set it down. OMG. He has table manners! Much better than I did even in high school. 

In general he's getting more expressive and more curious. He wants to try to do things himself. He tries to put his shoes on. He opens the bookshelf and gets out books to read to himself. He has a lot more facial expressions and babbling. He's trying to talk. He thinks he's talking, I just have to keep working to understand him. He's also walking much better. We have started letting him walk part of the way to the coffee shop nearby. He walks about a block then we let him ride the other 2. Same thing on the way home. He gets distracted by plants and other people's stairs (he loves stairs) but it's worth it and I want him to learn that he's expected to walk on his own. 

We went with his cousins to a cool play space called Wiggle Works. It's inflatables to bounce on, and moving things to climb/ride on, etc. It was a lot of fun but I noticed something for the first time. Many of the other kids, even kids his age, were kinda bounding around not really looking at their surroundings. Running into walls, literally. Not to burn off energy, but because they weren't looking. Moriarty looks. He's very thoughtful. He surveys a scene then decides what he wants to do and where he wants to go. Pip says he does this when he arrives at daycare too. He stands at the door for a minute and looks around, then goes and finds a friend to hug and play with (usually Hannah his best friend). He also watches the birds and squirrels out the window. I'm curious how much of this is just his personality, and how much Pip and I have helped instill by stopping and touching plants, and watching birds, and looking around and talking to him about it. I can't know, but I really appreciate how thoughtful and intentional he is. I love that he can play by himself and find things to entertain himself when we are occupied with other things. I really feel like I've won the baby lottery.