A few weekends ago, we took a trip to Madison, besides offering free beer every night (amazing, I know) the hotel also had a pool. Evan loved the pool. He has an amazing kick that is almost straight legged. That isn't saying much but as a former swim lessons teacher, getting a kid at any age to kick with straight legs is no easy task, and my kid is a natural. I had known that Evan was obsessed with water but he created sentences to describe it. After our first trip to the pool, he was hooked. Every time we went into the lobby, he would go up to the window and look at the water. If you were not paying attention to him looking at the water, he would bring you over to convince you to go swimming. He would say, "Water place". Then we taught him the word pool and that caught on immediately. With language development we have have to repeat stuff a million times for it to sick, but not so with pool.
His love for swimming and all things water stuck with him and now, baths are nearly an hour long. I can't even say the words bath or tub without him ripping his clothes off. In the last week Evan has started to try to float on his back. He will push all his toys to one side and lie on his back with only his little face sticking out. He then kicks his feet and splashes. This ends with me panicking and pulling him up. He thinks it's hilarious. He even puts his face in the water and turns to the side to take a breath. This kid needs swim lessons.
Aside from "water place", Evan's verbal and cognitive skills have taken off exponentially. Not a day goes by where he doesn't practice sentences. His grammar sucks but he's getting there. Today he said "Me get dada" and he got dada. He recites chunks of his alphabet and will repeat individual letters and sounds when we practice with his leapfrog fridge phonics. But the greatest thing he has done lately is count! Yes, my child who is just shy of one and a half can count! My sister and I were reading him a book where the penguin counts to four. We stopped at four and heard this tiny voice say five, six. It was one of the most amazing moments of mommyhood thus far. While he can't line up 6 things and count them, he loves having 2 of the same thing and will count one-two, which is also amazing.
One of my biggest worries as working mom, was being able to practice things like counting and reading, but I've set my worries aside because we are getting there.
Cole is the same way with the bath and I can't wait to see what he does when we have pool pass this summer. My question about Evan is does he let you wash his face/hair? Cole loves to play with the toys and splash and whatnot. But I laugh all the time about his stereotypical little boy "don't wash my face."
ReplyDeleteCole frustrates me sometimes with language...he knows stuff that he doesn't let on. He usually refuses to speak, but then will randomly burst out with full, complete sentences that are easy to understand. The other day he must have done 10 diff animal noises but when you ask him to repeat them he clams up!
While Evan will repeat things in the company of people he is very familiar with, in typical toddler fashion he is nearly mute around strangers and in new environments. He will repeat the names of domestic animals a million times. Kitty and puppy are his go to animals but he will certainly bust out with bird, bunny and bear if he sees one. It amazes me that he has latched on to drawings and renderings of kitties that barely resemble them and will now point out any kitty ever.
ReplyDeleteWith the bath thing, Evan hates for me to rinse his hair but I can sometimes scrub it up and hope he goes under to rinse himself. His face is no problem and willingly let his face be wiped.