Midwest Part I--Skill Development

Nicholas and I are still in Louisville (for only about 20 more hours), but this is the first of what I'm sure will be many posts about this trip.  I'll write about all we've been doing some other time (maybe when I upload pictures), but this post needs to be quick, so I'm just going to give you a quick update on what Nicholas has been up to skill-wise.  Quite a few things have really clicked this week for our little boy.

For one, he is walking a lot more.  We've been saying for a long time that he had the ability to walk but mentally didn't think he could walk on his own.  Well, when we were in Cincinnati he started walking on his own a lot unprompted.  My guess is that he was so busy paying attention to all the people and toys and activity that he forgot to focus on his fear of walking alone and just intuitively walked when he wanted to get somewhere.  He still prefers to hold a hand, but sometimes he is now wandering away on his own without seeming to notice.

The second big skill he has been working on this week is talking.  "Cracker" is still his favorite and most-used word, but it is getting much clearer.  It is now more like "acka" and very clear and forceful.  The other phrase he uses all the time is "gotta go" (or occasionally the variants "I gotta go" or just "I go").  He uses it so often that we all started using it this weekend, even in ways that are grammatically incorrect, because it was cute and fun.  (For example, "Nicholas, do you want to gotta go?")

Those two words/phrases are the only ones he uses very clearly and consistently.  Here is a list of other words he has used this week in appropriate and conscious ways, but isn't consistent on:

• a ca: cat (he often uses indefinite articles)
  
• ba: bath (also used for the baptismal font at church this morning, but given that it looked like a small pool, it was an understandable mistake)
  
• baa: bottle (not a baby bottle because he doesn't see those, but these wooden soda bottles my grandparents have)
  
• mama
  
• ah gon: all gone (not when something is actually used up, but when he drops something from his high chair, because I say it is "all gone" as his punishment for throwing things)
  

He also seems to be trying to say "milk," but it sounds like "gak" or "ack" and so there has been a few times when I think he is just making noise or complaining and then he finds another way to show me he wants milk and I go "ahhhhh" and feel bad that I was telling him to stop whining when he was getting frustrated trying to talk to me.  

I'll write more later this week, but overall Nicholas has been doing really well.  He has been having lots of fun, although he has also been annoyed by his lack of control over the schedule and the amount of time spent in the car.  All things considered, I am very proud of him.  The last big hurdle is the plane ride home tomorrow, so hopefully he will continue this trend.  I will be glad to be home with Joe, but am very very sad to leave here.