Daniel Speaks

So Daniel has been making sounds that sound a lot like words recently.  A couple of weeks ago, he got a-hold of my phone and began pressing buttons.  I heard him, or rather the phone,  from the kitchen and called out, “Daniel, are you calling China?” to which he replied, “Yeah, Mama!”  It was a bit growly, and he probably wasn’t assigning meaning to the words, but that’s how it came out nevertheless.  I thought Michael was going to bust a gut laughing when he heard him.

Later that same week, Thomas offered him a carrot at the dinner table by saying, “Daniel, do you want a carrot?”  And Daniel said, “Carrot.”  Plain as day.  We haven’t heard it since.

This morning though was the sweetest.  All 3 kiddos and myself were snuggling, wiggling, and playing in the bed.  Daniel laid his head down on the bed next to me so I started talking to him.  We’ve been playing a game where I say, “Bye-bye” and wave his hand for him.  It makes him giggle for some reason.  This morning I just waved my own hand and said “Bye-bye” a few times since he was laying on his hands.  He watched me for a bit, then sat himself up, raised his right hand, and clearly said “bye-bye” in a sweet little voice while waving and grinning.  Then he crawled off to play.  It was so obviously on purpose and not an accident.  And it was soooo sweet to see that little hand waving.  He looked right proud of himself, too.

Hopefully, he will get better soon so that he will stop the constant screaming.  He is such an intense little guy that when he wants something he screams at the top of his lungs to get it.  We are working on being quieter at the dinner table, but when he runs out of food on his tray or sees something on the table he wants, he screams until he gets it.  If I look at him and speak softly, he calms down for a few seconds.  I’m trying to encourage him to make a softer sound before I give him what he’s screaming for.  I’m sure he’ll get it eventually.  He’s already gotten better about biting Gloria.  (Poor girl has little bruises where he’s bitten her.)  Now if I see him thinking about it and tell him no, he stops.  Gloria tells him, “Daniel, don’t bite me.”  He backs off then, too.  And for the record, his biting happens when he wants to love on her the way he loves and squishes on his favorite stuffed toys.  He’s not trying to be mean.  He’s just caught up in the intense snuggling so he bites her.

The little guy is just INTENSE!