Expressions and Manners

 John Michael is almost 3 1/2, and in the past few months, I've noticed many changes in him. So many, in fact, that I can only post a few areas at a time. One thing that has surprised me, and is very exciting, is his use of expressions in his speech.

Last week, while checking out this fire engine, I heard him describe it as "Cool!" or "Wow!" and tell me, "Look, Mom! Hole!" to describe where the hose fits on the truck.

Another favorite thing to say is, "Listen!" and point to his ear, or "Watch", or "C'mon, Mom!" to get me to actively participate in something he's doing. He's also claiming to hear a bear and tell me he's scared, or tell me, "Ouch! Hurts! Finger!" Three words together is becoming more common, too, as are words with more syllables. Yesterday, he said watermelon perfectly, broken up in to two words... "water melon".

One of his big brother Nic's first phrases when he was little was, "Sit down, Mom." I had to laugh when, the other day, John Michael told me, "Mom, sit!" and patted the carpet for me to come sit next to him. It was so cute and yet, kinda bossy, which also made me laugh. The most bossy, annoying thing he's saying lately is "Dwiet!" (quiet) whenever anyone, mostly Anna, is singing in the car. Of course, he got that one from me, because I got into the habit of telling Anna to be quiet whenever she would sing her solos from the musical Bye Bye Birdie at the top of her lungs in the kitchen. So, I'm paying for that now, because he even tells me to be quiet when I'm rehearsing!

Last week, out of the blue, he said, "Woo hoo!" when something went his way. It was so cute, I had to giggle. It's so cute to hear him use expressions and realize that he's using them exactly as they're intended. He really gets it... and he is starting to let me know.

John Michael has also shown us that he's pretty funny, too. If he could talk in complete sentences, I know he'd be telling us jokes non-stop. He's a prankster and loves to get us to laugh. Recently, he's started pretending to be different animals, like a snake or lion or tiger. His growls come from the bottom of his gut and you won't want to mess with him if he growls at you. But then, when you tell him, "Oh, John Michael, how scary!", he breaks into laughter as if to say, "Got you!" Which is another expression... he loves to say, "Got you!" and then tickle you. He's also recently shortened his "Thank you" to just "Thanks." I just love it!

"Mom! See! Eggs!"

Besides expressions, John Michael has good manners. When someone in our family sneezes, he's the first to say, "Bless you!"

Last week, a lady at church blew her nose and he turned around to say, "Bless you!" It was so sweet. Coughing, sneezing and nose blowing all get the same treatment around here. There's no shortage of blessings :-) He also gives us blessings on our forehead, which is very sweet, and shakes hands with others at the Sign of Peace. At Communion, he waits in line, walks up with his arms folded across his chest, receives a blessing, and walks back to our aisle. We used to have to either chase him or just hold him. Now, he gets back to where we were sitting.

He is also learning to pause to say grace before meals. He does his best to make the sign of the cross and then we all hold hands and say grace, followed by, "Amen!" He prefers to use utensils, uses a napkin to clean his mouth and chin when I remind him, and can eat an entire bowl of Froot Loops. OK, not something I'm proud of in a nutrional sense, but we actually work on colors as he's eating... and then he finishes up by drinking the milk from the bowl. Well, so not everything is considered "good manners", but we think it's great at home.

I have so much to write about... but want it to be relevant. Is there anything in particular I should post about?

I'd love to hear from you again... :-)

Uh oh, Oh no, YAY!

John Michael's speech continues to take off... branching into 2 word and sometimes 3 word phrases, like "Hi, Luke", "blue block" or "love you".  He is a parrot and often copies the last word in a sentence or picks up expressions. 

This morning, while feeding Luke, I quietly observed John Michael building towers with Legos.  He built the tower by himself (not the bottom, larger structure) and was quite chatty.  He would say, "Yay" when a block or section fit.  He'd say, "Oh, no" or "Uh oh" when blocks were tipping or fall off and would say, "fit" when the blocks didn't fit well.


Here he's standing proud of his accomplishment.  That was as high as he could reach without the whole thing falling over.  He stayed with this activity for about 15 minutes, which is pretty good for self-directed play.  If Greta were here, they probably would've played for about 30 minutes.

Eventually, he branched off to playing with the Lego animals, cars, trucks and people.  But the whole time, I noticed how his expressive language is growing.

Some other expressions he frequently uses are: "Whoa!" for when he catches himself falling or bumping into something; "Oops! (soop)" for when something goes wrong; "Bonk" for when he bonks into something; "Wow!" when something's exciting or cool; and, "Ow!" for when he's hurt.  This has really come in handy lately since he can now show me where he is hurt.  It used to be a guessing game with lots of tears.

This was taken last week and he built it all on his own.

 I just love Legos for all the things you can do with them.