And I'm sorry to get all mommy-blog on you right now, but I just have to record some of his more recent landmarks. You know, posterity, blah, blah, blah. Deal with it.
Jethro did his first serious alone walking, poetically enough, on Christmas day. He spent the whole day marching around the apartment in his monkey jammies from Grandma M. The week following was the most accident-prone of his life. He crashed every time I turned my back, usually on his face or the back of his head. After that he got pretty gun shy. But some time in late January he got his groove back and has been cruising ever since.
I'm pretty sure his first word was "no". Which made me feel like Mom of the Year. But now his favorite word is "yeah" or perhaps "ja"? He's able to deliver it with a range of inflections to indicate many shades of meaning, and I suspect he's using it largely to avoid learning other words. He just cons me into asking only yes or no questions. Other words he says now are "duck" and "car" and "banana". Cat is "meow" and dog is a mournful-sounding howl. He understands quite a bit. If I ask him to pick out a book for me to read to him or get his shoes he usually does it. Probably because being read to and playing outside are two of his favorite pastimes.
Other pastimes include helping me fold and hang up laundry, even when it's not needed:
pulling goofy faces:
napping:
and listening to music. His tastes seem pretty varied, although there does seem to be a preference for good, solid rock 'n' roll á la Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, and Kings of Leon, which makes me proud. There are a few exceptions, including the theme song for the Mary Tyler Moore Show and this:
Turning on that video is the only thing I've found that will mesmerize him long enough for me to trim his finger- and toenails without much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Honestly, I could probably perform acupuncture on him without a fight as long as this video was playing. I'm sure everyone's seen this video a kajillion times, but just for reference here it is:
In my defense, I'm not the only one pumping my baby full of Beyoncé. She has some kind of magical power over babies. It's seriously weird. But, hey, whatever works, right?
He also applauds everything. The conclusion of songs and television shows and musical numbers in church always get a round of applause. He has applauded me for counting to ten, among other things. It really does wonders for the old self-esteem.
But possibly my favorite thing about Jethro right now is how affectionate he is. He constantly gives Jake and me spontaneous hugs. He blows kisses and smooches everything, his stuffed animals, his bath toys, Jake's laptop. And whenever I lie down on the floor to exercise in the mornings, he plops down next to me and drapes his whole torso over my belly and just snuggles me until I'm finished.
I joked before we came to Germany that in order to ensure that I would have a friend here, I would just make one for myself. Little did I know how well that would work out for me. I sure love my little bud.
JEM
