Let Your Fingers do the Talking

Last night in the middle of the night Anders woke up, and, in the dark was feeling my face with the fingers of a blind person. He really used his fingers and was feeling my eyes then my nose then my mouth then back to my eyes then my hair. Then he got quiet and said, "Mama, where your ear?" I moved his hand to my ear.  Then he said "oh" and then "Where your other ear?" and then "oh"  Then he settled back down put his hand on my chin and said, "I wuv you mama."

The Quest for Autonomy

 Anders is now officially 3 months away from his second birthday, and the developmental changes at this moment are particularly apparent.  Anders is totally interested in independence.  Doing everything "all by himself" is the mode of operandi around here.  Walking up the stairs without help (you can imagine how difficult this one is to let go of with a teetering stair climber on the loose); sitting in a big chair at the table rather than his high chair; feeding himself with a fork or a spoon, etc.  You get the picture.  Most moments weh ave the time and the patience as he strives for autonomy and mastery, but sometimes when we are in a hurry, it is a little bit of a struggle.  Plus, there are moments when we missed some cue, and he gets intoa fuss because he wanted to do it by himself. Backteracking doesn't always quell his frustration.  

And then there are those moments when your heart cracks wide open, as you sit and watch him earnestly struggling to bring a noodle to his mouth and just at taht moment of full insertion, it drops to his lapn not just once, but four out of five bitefulls, and you know that the best thing you can do for him is just cheer him on and not grab that fork and feed him yourself.  

At the same time all of this independent work is going on, Anders is also becoming more and more articulate.  His language and speech development is amazing; full sentences, thoughtful comments, and word recall that are all rather remarkable.  His grandpa is visiting, and today as they interacted, Anders said to him  "That's funny!" in response to an animated facial expression and sound grandpa made.  It wasn't just a pleasurable giggle or laugh, it was a well timed and right on verbal response.  He's not even two yet!  And that is a bad example of what I am trying to illustrate and capture for you.  There you have it, the latest update on life with Anders.