Grant is learning!!

Grant has been learning a lot in the past few months.

*Hygiene - If you ask him if he wants to brush his teeth, he’ll run to the bathroom. In fact, he hates brushing his teeth but loves standing on the step stool on his tip toes and putting his hand under the running water. Then (and only then) will he say “Ahhh” and open his mouth for me! After a bath when I comb his hair, he takes a turn with the comb and gives it a shot. Most of the time, the comb is upside down, but I still think he does a good job.

*Doors - His latest fascination is with doors. He loves to close them. In the past, he liked doing this whenever he could PUSH the door shut, but now he will push or pull it shut. Imagine a little boy on his tip toes, barely able to hold the door handle, backing up to pull the door closed. Apparently it's also really fun to play with locks because he's locked us out of our room a few times (and locked everyone out of Matt and Julie's bedroom over the weekend - he wasn't even in the room). He almost always says "Bah-Bye" when he shuts the door - usually AFTER it is shut. And when we have visitors, he says "bah-bye" AFTER they have left. If he wants a door opened after he's closed it, he knocks on the door.

*Body parts - He now knows his hands, ears, hair, nose, toes, belly button, and baby (his tummy and mine). He also knows “Daddy’s toes” and “Mama’s toes” but won’t point out any of our other body parts.

*Light switches – He’s not QUITE as fascinated with light switches – but still thinks they are pretty cool.

*Toys – He has known “ball” for a while. But you can now ask him to get his fire truck or choo choo train and he’ll go get them. Same for books. The train is definitely his favorite toy. It’s not even close. He knows who Elmo is – we have 1 Elmo toy and a few books, but I don’t think he’s ever seen Sesame Street. He calls him “Melmo”.

*Songs – At least once a day, I sing Old McDonald. I usually say he “had a baby”. And Grant will say “Bay-bee” back to me. If I instead say he “had a cow”, Grant will usually still say “Bay-bee.”

*Animals – If the moons align just right, he’ll say turtle. He will say “moo” for a cow. I make a chomping sound and open and close my mouth for alligator – Grant thinks this is funny. He tries to do it too, but the sound is only a whisper.

*Lola – He’s actually pretty nice to her. I will GUSH over him every time he’s nice to her. There’s still the occasional leg-squeezing or ear-grabbing, but not as often. He’s much better about petting her with an open palm and even giving her kisses – which Lola usually returns. And clearly, that is the funniest thing ever! Just this morning while I was chopping up a cantaloupe, Grant said “nah-no-na”, which we think is “Hi Lola”, and gave her a hug and was petting her when I checked to make sure he was being sweet. Call me crazy, but I can tell by the tone of his voice and/or the look in his eyes if he’s going to be loving or mischievous with her.

*Kisses – If I ask for a kiss, I’ve got maybe a 20% chance of getting it. Except when Grant’s in his car seat – I always get kisses then. But if I ask him to give the baby a kiss, he’ll oblige 100% of the time. And sometimes, he’ll just come up to me and reach and I know he wants to give “the baby” a kiss. Sometimes, he then wants me to kiss his belly. And who can resist that?! So – yeah, he’s still very unclear on the difference in “baby” and “belly” but he’s sweet and it’s adorable!

*Dada - Grant grabs the remote and says "Dada." Thankfully, you can just ask him to bring it to you and he does. Hopefully this means the days are very near when I can say "Will you go get ____ and bring it to mama?" and he will. He also says "Dada" when he sees a burnt orange shirt (Derek wears his UT NCAA Championship shirt around the house often).

*Sleep – He’s sleeping from 8 p.m. – 6:45 a.m. Now that he’s at Julie’s, he’s taking 2 naps a day instead of just 1, totaling about 3 hours of naps.

*Mornings – When he wakes up in the mornings, he doesn’t really cry. He talks to himself and plays in his crib. I let him be until around 7. He has some really funny conversations with himself. Actually, he talks to himself quite a bit at night too once we put him in his crib.

*Lola’s crate – This is his second favorite toy behind the train. He loves to play in it and open and shut it. We had the crate in our bathroom earlier in the week and it was MUCH easier to get ready in the mornings because he just played in Lola’s crate!

*Kitchen - Grant is getting taller and more curious. He likes to reach INTO drawers (this is new for us) and can reach the kitchen countertops too. We have to watch where we set down the knife when we're cooking and where we store the scissors in the drawer! He's also curious about what is in the oven and likes to bang on it when it's in use. He also knows that when the microwave goes off, it's time to EAT! So he'll RUN to his chair... and heaven forbid you have to cut up the food or let it cool before he can eat it - he'll run to you and cry. He STILL takes eating very seriously and hasn't encountered many foods that he doesn't like. He also seems to like ice, so he's got that in common with Lola! In the kitchen (and other places too - but most often the kitchen), he likes to run into our legs and try to get through them.

*Repeating mama and dada - When we yell "GO RANGERS!" He also yells "GO!" He makes a nice big "O" with his mouth that is so adorable. He even turns and looks at the TV and yells "GO" during football too - picking up on our enthusiasm for the game. In the car today, I asked if he could say "Papa" and he said it quite clearly. Derek started saying "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" yesterday and Grant will repeat it right back. Melts my heart.