My smart boy!

I am just SO proud of Zeke and what he has been learning the last few days, I need to tell you all!

• Zeke really liked some specific pictures in a catalogue so I decided to cut them out and stick them in a page in his drawing book so he could look at them whenever he wanted. He enjoys looking at pictures that he likes frequently, so this was a good way not to have a pile of junk mail hanging around and let him keep the pictures. There's a picture of some apples, a cat, some puppies, a baby and the biscuits from the packet we'd just finished. Very proudly later the same evening, he's showing Ryan the pictures, and suddenly he points to the biscuits, says "nana" (which sometimes means banana, and sometimes food in general) and runs off to the pantry to wait for us to get him a biscuit. He can also ask for an apple like this now - so I'm definitely going to have to get some new pictures done so he can ask for more than apples and biscuits!


• Last night, we were sitting (well he was sitting, I was kneeling) at his little table and eating dinner. I'd forgotten to peel his carrots before I cooked them, and he doesn't like carrot skin, so I was pulling the skin off each slice and making a small pile of them on the table next to my plate. I also spat a little bit of gristle from my chicken into my hand and put it there too, and Zeke had obviously been watching me very closely. He ate another piece of carrot and found a bit of skin I'd missed, so he pulled it out of his mouth and put it in the pile with the other skins & gristle!


• Not long after that, when I was putting our plates away, he had followed me into the kitchen and was making his "mmm na na na" noises, asking for food, so I gave him a piece of carrot that was still in the pot. I forgot to peel it, so he spat the carrot out and threw it on the floor. I told him right away "If you don't want it, don't throw it on the floor, give it back to Mummy", and he picked it up, and tried to open the cupboard under the sink where we keep the bin. He gave me the carrot and was very pleased to see it go in the bin.
  


• The last couple of days as well, he's really been noticing where things belong in the house, if he finds the phone lying around he'll carry it over to the base (which is on a small chest of drawers) and try to put it back in its cradle, although he can't quite reach. When we offer to help him, he gives the phone over and watches to make sure we put it away. He also spotted my mobile on the floor (it usually sits on the mantle next to the heater, but had fallen off) and as the mantle is well out of his reach, called for me and stretched up with the phone to show me what he wanted! He couldn't bring the phone to me, because it was plugged in to charge and the cord would only let him go 2 or 3 feet, so he shouted out until I came to him!


• He's also starting to show me when he needs a nappy change, by finding a nappy, either from his nappy bag, or the actual packet and bringing it to me. He doesn't always let me, know, and sometimes he's just playing with the nappy, but it's a start!
  

I am still in awe sometimes that I made this boy, and how smart he is, watching him learn and play, and absorbing all these little things I teach him. There really are not words for how proud or happy it makes me to see him developing into such an awesome boy!