Yesterday

Tavish and I share some wonderful moments as we always do ... but some specific thoughts motivated me into action: I love this moment; I can't wait to tell this story to Tom, my Mom etc; I wish I had somewhere that milestones and moments were recorded, etc. So, later last night I started to write in a journal ... my hand cramped, I switched to point form, my printing was getting messier, I was rushing. No! This isn't serving the purpose of capturing the moments of today that brought me to this point! Then it dawned on me - I can type much more quickly than I can print, it's always neat and anyone who is interested in my inner ramblings and moments of being moved by Tavish, can see it through a blog. I set it up, but it was late - so the entry may be dated July 6th, but these moments ... they belong to yesterday. :)

MOMENT: The Wonder of a Watersicle

It's hot. Heatwave-hot. So, I pulled out a popsicle from the freezer made of water. I have given one to Tavish before when he was outside on the deck playing with water, it basically went swimming. This time, I sat down with him at the foot of our stairs and touched it to him: "cold, brrr", then - I gave it a lick. It was instant entertainment. I offered it to him but he was only curious to hold it himself - and we had take off. He laughed and laughed. What fun! He took turns holding it out for Mommy (laugh) and licking it himself (laugh). Only occasionally was the floor or wall offered a feel of the cold popsicle. There we were, amid a small pool of quickly warming water with a nice cold popsicle to share. It was certainly a memorable moment and a refreshing one too!

DEVELOPMENT: Walking and talking

Okay, let's not put the horse before the cart, but Tavish is almost well on his merry walking way. After my parents spent a few days in town with Tavish, he's a walk-with-me machine and has mastered the walker. They managed to guide him toward being a super-dooper driver as he navigates his way around the house with that thing. This activity even comes with the bonus of sound effects: "beep, beep, beep". When he runs into something, us making this sound somehow reminds him to back up! He also makes corrections and can walk in a circle. When the walker isn't around, a finger will do but walking all alone - not so much. Well, except for a step or two here and there. My folks claim they saw a rogue step or two, but let's be honest - us parents need to see these things to believe it. Yesterday, the site was seen by Daddy. Tavish took a few steps inbetween two objects he was walking along! Very exciting ... I saw the tail-end of it. Although I'm still holding out for when the walking show is performed specifically for Mommy, I saw enough to believe it. The camera was on the table, not in the kitchen where Tom witnessed this development. Sigh. The not-so-silver-lining to this development is that even though we remained quiet (no distracting screeches of excitement), Tavish got to the book-filled end table, looked over his shoulder and tumbled down onto his face. Ah well, we know he walked ... but he may be a little more leary to do it again today. This graceful lad is not used to stumbling about so walking without support may now be on the outs for a day or two!

That was the walking. Now onto the 'talking'. First, I must clarify that Tavish is an adept sign-language talker. He was an early adopter of the sign for "milk" then came "more" followed closely by "food". What can I say? My son has his priorities straight. Eventually he adopted "water" and "stories" - his favourite thing to do both on his own and with anyone who will read with him. Recently we introduced "help" which was accepted quite quickly and like any other sign, is slightly Tav-dapted ... the "help" symbol involves holding one hand out flat with the other hand forming a fist with the thumb pointing up and lifting the fisted hand up. It has been Tav-dapted into simply raising his whole arm. Pretty entertaining as he rams his walker into something then instantly raises his hand "help"! Anyway, his new 'talking' that has really evolved in the past few days is "please". Very cute. Mike asked me if I thought he knew what it meant. I thought about it, and no. It's pretty abstract when you think about it. But he's using it, especially if you say "show Mommy 'please'". Now, "please" is an open hand making a circle on your chest, presumably over your heart. Tavish can often be seen using two hands (similar to his Tav-daption of milk ... where it looks like he's trying to milk a cow - sigh) and they are often circling around or near his groin. Huh. Anyway, that's his new talking, please. Food, please. Water, please. Milk, please. Aw. He's also solidified his vocal "Mama". It's technically been in his repertoire for a long time, but it's really being pulled out these past few days. Tom goes to get him in his room sometimes and Tavish looks over Tom's shoulder "Mama?". Cute. He's really got the essentials covered I guess (heart melting alittle).