Days 6 and 5
It’s crazy to realize this, but it seems that some trigger suddenly went off on Kiki’s brain, because over the last two days I’m seeing things that were not there before.
Yesterday, towards the end of the day before daddy got home, I was feeling a little tired. In these cases it’s best NOT to lay down on the floor while Joaquin plays around. But I couldn’t help it. I put my head on the huge blue pillow and let Joaquin’s buzzing with his push cart serenade my half sleep. I could sense the bollito going back and forth and doing his little cute babble chat, “bah bah bah” when suddenly I felt him stop by my side and touch my head. I looked up to him, and next thing I know, my baby is getting all comfortable, LAYING DOWN on the floor with me. Whaaa???? Joaquin laying down?… Yes sir. Totally uncharacteristic of him, and even more surprising: He stayed there CUDDLING for a long time. Tell me about special moments; I’ve been waiting 12 months to spoon this bollo.
Recently, I realized that Joaquin understands very clearly something for which I’ve never used a sign. “Quieres ver un video?” (Would you like to watch a video?). Baby hears this and immediately turns and heads towards the TV emitting some very joyful moans. At the site, it cracks me up to watch him handling the remote control, pointing at the TV trying to make the image appear. He holds it with such style, like he’s been doing this for ever (No. He hasn’t).
Talking about pointing, relatives may be glad to hear that little Kiki not only points to their photos, but also says their names (in his own way, of course). Yesterday, I heard him saying “Ko-eh”; his finger pointing at his cousin Joelle. “That’s right! That’s Joelle… And this one…” — I say pointing at his other cousin — “…is Elise”. “Ee”, he repeats. OK, yes, the similarity of the sounds could be a total coincidence. But to see him pointing at the photos and attempting to say the names is way too cute.
Also a very new development is Joaquin’s reaction when something surprises him. Say he spots a car, or his maraca claps at him because he shook it 10 times. He’ll immediately look at me, smiling and commenting on the event. This baby has so much to say!… And on that same note, this killed me today: He’s at the table, waiting for me to bring him some more food. “Mm! Mm! Mm!” (translation: “food! food! food”). While he’s chanting Mms, I slip a piece of banana in his tiny trompa. I hear “Mm! Mm! Mmmmmm!!!!”; that last “mmmmm” meaning “oh, I like this!”. Not that he hadn’t shown satisfaction before. It just hadn’t been this communicative before.
