I'm learning that he is far more mentally and physically advanced than I realize most of the time.
As an example, five minutes ago on the airplane, I asked the sweet flight attendant if she would fill his cup up with water with which she complied. She then got me a glass of water as well and set my tray table down for me since my hands were very full.
At this point, Grayson began very adamantly needing something, which I assumed was his cup of water. "Nuh uh." I tried handing him his sucker that was just out of his reach. Nope. So then I said "Grayson show Mama what you want baby, I don't understand." He replied "Bub" which in our world means Bubble Guppies.
What I didn't realize is that the pattern before I take out his DVD player on the airplane goes as follows. Take DVD player out of backpack, open tray table and then play his DVD. It was only natural in his world that the next step after opening the tray would be watching "Bub."
Last night, my mom grabbed her purse to take into her bedroom and all of the sudden Grayson chased her down repeating "die" over and over. Now before you think this is a morbid story, "die" is Grayson language for "outside." He observed that usually women grab their purse before going outside. He has made the same observation with shoes.
I love intelligent moments like these that remind me how much he is learning. He is so observant and really studies everything. His memory is amazing. He is starting to leave his tiny mark in the world. He is making his own waves and is figuring out his place in this great, big world around him.
What an amazing thing for me to witness.
From 15-18 months, his mental understanding has really blown me away. He is very adamant about letting us know what he needs or wants. If he doesn't know how to pronounce a word, he will grab our hand, lead us to it and put our hand directly on what he wants or needs help with. I always use that moment as a teaching opportunity to give him words for things he wants.
With mental understanding, of course, comes many fits due to not having access to the things he wants. My kid spends a lot of time on the floor these days. The "step-over" him approach seems to work well. However, it takes all I have not to laugh when he stands up, walks within my sight and then resumes said fit.
We're in that awkward stage of not really a baby, not really a big boy yet so sometimes Mr. Independence gets frustrated. He wants to do everything all by himself all of the time. It's hard for me to stand back and watch him try to figure out such simple tasks, but I do it so he can learn for himself.
The good news is, when something is a clear danger he allows help. He knows to always grab my hand around stairs. He knows we don't go by water without holding my hand. He knows my "this is serious" voice and respects it most of the time. When he is in a dangerous situation and doesn't follow my direction, that is when he gets spanked. I am the mom who will find alternatives to spanking until it becomes a danger issue of any kind. This approach works well for us. I can't halfway spank because he thinks it's a hilarious game. So, when I do make the decision to spank, I have to mean business and I'm not about to be one of those parents spanking my child every five minutes for every little thing to the point where it doesn't even phase him anymore. No, we will save that for real problems.
As for vacation, May was simply incredible. First we got to go to the unmatched Grand Cayman 7 mile beach. Now, we are on our way back from our home away from home, Destin, FL. I want to live at the beach. After this month I'm going to be craving sun, sand and turquoise saltwater until next time. Think like school girl crush on a cute boy and she just wants to seeeeee him... That's me, except my crush is on the ocean and I just need to beeeee (live) there.
Sigh.....
Well, I do have many photos to share. :)
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