More Words

Since the weather is so hot during the middle of the day and afternoon I make a point to take the kids outside in the evenings where we can play in the shade. Some days if it's not too hot Darrin and I will take them for a wagon ride around the corner and down the street where the road is not too hilly. Both Rebekah and Joshua love it, and it's good exercise for Darrin and me.

A little over a week ago we were out walking while the kids were riding in the wagon. Across the street and diagonally from our house two girls were out playing and riding their bikes in the driveway. One girl is 7 and the other is 4 years old. They made conversation with us as we walked by, and then as we moved farther away they waved and said, 'bye!' For the first time Joshua held his arm up, waved his hand, and repeatedly said, 'eye, eye, eye'. He continued this after we had turned the corner and were no longer in viewing of the girls. When we passed them on the way back to our house they caught Joshua's attention. He started to stand up in the wagon and was ready to climb out! I think he would have crawled right over to them if he could have.

Yesterday Joshua said 'mommy' for the first time. I just love it!!! He repeated it several times today as well as 'daddy' after Darrin came home. He's also starting to say Rebekah's name again which he hasn't attempted in a while. Another new word from today is 'play'. I gave Joshua a couple of choices, one of which was to play. He looked at me with a big smile and said something that sounded like a consonant attached to "ay". Sure enough, he was happy when I placed him on the floor to play with his toys!

Joshua also says variations of 'yes' - yes, yeah, yah. Funny thing is when he wants to communicate 'no' he just shakes his head from side to side, and he's very emphatic about it. When he's had enough of a certain food he shakes his head at it. When I ask him if he wants to get out of the bath tub, he just looks at me and shakes his head then smiles.

All these new words are so fun to hear him communicate! One of these days, though, I'm sure I'll be wishing for a moment's peace from him.