Today, Michael learned a new skill: the high-five.
He's really good at it, too. What I love best about it, though, is that it makes him so proud to do it, and he gets this great big smile on his face, flashing dimples galore.
It's awesome. And it almost makes me forget about the three outfit changes I've had to do for him today, and the icky clothes I've got soaking in OxyClean right now, waiting to be pried by my reluctant fingers from tainted water and thrown gingerly into the washing machine for yet another load.
After making such progress yesterday (just one blowout for the day), I about lost my mind when Michael managed to "go" four times before 1:00 pm. I called his doctor in a panic, but was assured that as long as he's suffering no dehydration and eating well, everything was likely a-okay. After all, these things can apparently last for 7-10 days. We're on day five now, so we're at least halfway through, I hope.
But in the meantime, Michael has also (almost) learned a new word: kitty. He can't quite say the "k" or "t" sounds, but you can tell that he's trying, all the same. And he's expanded out from dada, dih-dih, and ya ya to maaaaaaaaaaaaaa maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Granted, I only ever hear it in the form of wails over the monitor when he wants someone to come get him from his crib, but I'll take it in whatever form at this point.
It's so exciting, and such a relief, to finally hear him "talking." He's waited nearly 11 months to start, but given the rate of his progress, he's set to catch up with Big Sis in no time. That would certainly be a sight to see.
Speaking of Big Sis, here are some gems that she's gifted us with over the past week:
"Are you a ballet dancer like Michael Jackson?"
"Griffin is a very good cat. Give to him toy mouse."
"If you're happy and you know it, do a dance!"
(Randomly remembering the baseball game that we attended in August- who knew that two-year-olds could do that?) "They hit the ball. There was Mima, and Granda, and Lisa, and pizza!" A short while later, she remembered that Mei Mei was there, too. I still can't believe that she remembered eating pizza. Even I had forgotten about that.
(In answer to her father, when he asked her if she'd seen the replacement rings for the diaper genie) "I found the rings- they're in the bath!" Of course, she was referring to her plastic bath toy lifesaver thingies.
(When asked if she liked the portions that we gave her of bibimbap [a Korean dish]) "It's delicious and tasty."
And, last but not least, when asked if she would like some more milk with dinner: "Yesnoooooo...."
Great answer, Miss Smarty-pants. Of course, both "yes" or "no" answers quite often have the same level of ambiguity to them, lately, based on her reaction when we attempt to follow her instructions. It's good times, all around.
