Simon can now identify at least one body part, the nose. We’ve all worked on this off an on for a while now, but both Grandma and Bubbie got serious about it within the past week. As a result, you can now ask Simon to show you a nose, and he will put his little finger right on yours. I swooned to see this, of course, and am amazed yet again at how much these creatures can learn in a year and a half and how these amazing feats would gone unrecognized by me before I had a baby of my own. Tonight I think he even said “nose,” and that sent me completely over the bend.
He’s caught on to some other objects as well. If you ask Simon to show you the giraffe, elephant, or monkey from his animal train, he will pick up the correct animal. This feat was first witnessed by my mom, but I have now seen it repeated a few times.
We’re also entering an era of more advanced cruising. Simon is not wild about using the Pooh car at our house because it moves too fast for him on our wood floors. That’s a bit of a bummer. To perk me up, however, he has begun more adventurous cruising on his own along our couch, our ottoman, and his toy chest. He’ll take more than a few steps now, he’ll move from one object to another, he’ll reach to things like the moulding on his crib to get from one object to another, and he will even take a few steps towards me using my hands for balance but not support.
This development has come in only the past two days, and I’m thrilled by it. Will Simon walk by 18 months? It’s still a long-shot. But at least now I’m seeing real progress that is coming all from him. He wants to do these things, he’s trying them on his own, and he’s pleased as punch when he pulls it off. I think the desire as much as anything is what is buoying me.
Between the cruising and the pointing, I tell you, there has been an awful lot of clapping on Cowling Avenue this past week.