Aaron has really begun to show his amazingly cute little personality lately and he's becoming so much fun!! Even when he's being frustrating he's so cute about it that I can't help but laugh. Ok, not always, but often. :) For whatever reason, right around the same time he started catching on to sign language he also really started letting his personality show through. I'm wondering if it's the ability to communicate. Even though he still can't communicate with words (he's well on his way to being a late-talker like his brother), he has really caught on to the idea that you can still interact and talk to people in other ways. I'm sooooo glad I have been proactive with him. With Ryan I didn't even begin to get slightly concerned until he was 2. Up until he turned 2 I just gave him whatever he wanted when he started screaming. I didn't bother to do anything different because I felt sure he'd start talking around 2--I figured the screaming was just a phase and I just had to grin and bear it. I learned a lot over the past year about communication in young children and I've been working very hard to put into practice what I've learned. I would say the most important lesson I learned is that I can't try to pull Aaron up to where he should be, I have to meet him where he is. By that I mean that it's pretty obvious he's not at the verbal communication stage yet. So, instead of constantly trying to get him to talk I need to start where he is. He's at the stage of gestural communication. It really is amazing how well he has responded now that I've come down to his level. I can't even describe how exciting it has been to watch his sign language emerge. I'm already realizing what a smart little boy he is! We've been trying to teach him to do the sign for "daddy" and "mommy" lately. It's been a day or two since we've done it. Tonight when Steve got home from work he was saying to Aaron "say daddy" and Aaron did the sign for daddy. I was very surprised that he did it without a reminder. And, how cool that even if he can't actually SAY daddy yet, he can say daddy with his new language. I guess it's just exciting to really see how much he truly understands already even though he's not saying anything. I will forever be a HUGE fan of sign language for babies.
Aaron is almost 18 months and I had completely forgotten how much fun this age can be. No denying this age can be VERY, VERY trying. It's especially interesting how they can be amazingly cute WHILE being amazingly frustrating. I recently decided that I have to start exercising. I'm doing really well with walking at least once a day, but the toning type of exercise is proving to be a challenge. On Monday morning I thought I would try to do one of my yoga videos. My original plan was that I'd do it on M, W, Th while Ryan is at preschool. During that time I'd only have Aaron home and I really didn't think he'd be a problem. WOW, was I wrong! If you know anything about yoga you know that there are things like the downward dog where you have your legs slightly open and you're holding your upper body with your arms. Aaron used that opportunity to crawl between my legs and put his little nose right to my nose. He kept doing that over and over. Then he started crawling up to me and head-butting me. I finally decided to call it quits when I had to lay on the ground for some position I don't even remember now. Aaron was climbing over top of my belly. The entire time he was doing this he had the most adorable smile on his face. I just couldn't resist his attempts at getting my attention any longer so I turned the video off and decided I'd have to find another time for exercise. Haven't found that time yet.....but I'll keep looking. ;)
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