As Dy mentioned in her comment on my second to last post, sometimes when kids slack off in one area, they start picking up in another…  and sure enough, this has been Gregory’s week for new words.  He now says “ophn” (open), “backpack” (very fast and breathy sometimes, but still pretty easy to understand), “bye-bye”, “Matt” (when I’m calling out to Matt, Gregory usually echos me and laughs), and “O’s!!!” (for the Trader Joe’s version of Cheerios).  I think he might also be saying Emma’s name, but I’m not positive.  I’m pretty sure there are some other words, but of course I can’t think of them right now!

He’s also understanding a lot more words now too, which is exciting.  Also, you can ask him to get things for you and he’ll do it with  a few things.  His favorite thing to fetch is the dustpan.   He can nod yes and no, and he’s getting pretty good about doing the right one at the right time.  He’s also starting to give really good hugs.  He came up to me at park playday today, climbed into my lap, put his arms around my neck, tucked his head on my shoulder and started saying “awww”, just like I do when I give him a hug.  He’s such a cute little guy - very watchful and with a great sense of humor already.  He absolutely adores his big sister and she adores him.  I love watching the two of them interact.  Sure, there are occasional squabbles, but nothing major and Emma is really good at handling him with lots of love.  It is so fun to watch Gregory becoming his own little person, and to see Emma grow in her own empathy and ability to care for others!