Frogs in the car

 Paul and I took the kids on a nature walk and were lucky enough to find a toad for each kid in graduating sizes, small to large, just like the boys.  They were so giddy.  It took Teig a few minutes to get over his nervousness, but as soon as he did he wanted his own toad and did NOT want to give him up.  He tried to keep him in his pocket, but we explained that he would get smashed to which he did not respond well.  We explained to all the boys that the toads would need to be let free to live in the wild before we got back to the car.  Again, we did not get a good response from any of them.  We insisted and they all let their frogs go, Teig with a tantrum, Joren surprisingly pleasantly, Eirik, obediently.  On the drive home we suddenly heard Paul cry out, "What was that!?" as Joren's toad leaped out of the boot he had hidden him in!   He's a sneaky one, that Joren!

 Joren is always talking about living in a tree. Today he got to try to fit inside one.  He tried and tried, but it was a pretty tight fit.

 "my bone cowection!"

 A little nervous, but willing...

 Brave baby, caring brother

non-fiction

Playing the animal guessing game today Eirik insisted that we all took more than 20 questions to guess the golden breasted eagle.  We said we did not thing there was such an animal and he insisted that he had seen such an animal in the library at school in a non-fiction eagle book.  Joren said, "Eirik, you're so non-fictiony."  Eirik said, "I love studying."  Joren replied, "you're freaking me out."
It's hard to argue with a 6 year old who likes to quote non-fiction books.

Yesterday Eirik told me a lie.  I was explaining that lies are not permitted in our house and Joren said, in all sincerity, "so we can only lie outside?"

Joren still does not say l's or th's.  I think I will have a little crying moment when he starts to say, "I love you" instead of , "I just wove you so much."  

I spent a lot of time in the woods behind our house this week building forts and exploring with Joren.  The moment he gets home from preschool, he runs to his woods.  He tells me all the time he wants to sleep in a tree and live in the woods.  He wears his fur vest and jeans with no shirt and no shoes to do much of his "expworin in ve woods".  He calls himself a caveman or a adventurer.  He has a mighty stick collection and he makes tools and weapons out of sticks and rocks as his main hobby.  They are everywhere!

We lost Teig's bottle this week and for a couple of days he had to go without one for the first time in his life.  I baby grows up a lot when they don't get their familiar comforts.  He learned to say bobble, which I think is his first 2 syllable word, and he is showing some pretty fierce independence.  I had to make a big change in my behavior to him because I realized I have been happy letting him stay the baby in some ways and I have not been explaining every little thing to him like I used to do to Eirik.  Since Eirik could talk so well by this age, I was explaining everything to him, but Teig can understand as well as Eirik can, he just does not say the words yet.  I need to step up his education in a big way.   He is not a baby anymore and he is hungry to learn. 

Homesick

I finally got the guts to tell Paul how sad I felt about going to Oregon.  I have been trying not to feel sad, but to feel excited and happy.  After admitting my feelings, and crying for a bit, and talking again about how Utah just won't work out, I told him I just need to mourn my loss for a while.  I feel I am losing my family all over again.  I have spent a lot of my time away thinking that it is good for me to be away from them to develop my own strength or to bond with Paul.  I have spent some time feeling glad I am not near them because I thought I would get too frustrated with my brothers for not going to college and I feared my frustration would drive a wedge between us.  But really, those feelings just helped me not be so homesick and I fostered them so I would be ok.  I miss them and long for home.  I just miss them so much.

Evening walk

Tonight Teig insisted on holding Tor's leash on or walk.  Teig is tiny, Tor is enormous.  I swear, it melted me into a puddle.

One windy night

This Monday, Paul brought home a kite.  Not a cheap $1 kite, but a sweet jet shaped kit with long red tails.  I've said before, Paul just knows.  His sixth sense kicked in on this day and somehow he knew that Monday night would be the best kite flying weather of the year.  The boys piled out of the car at the middle school soccer field and charged through the wind to the center of the field where we watched our marvelous dad launch a supersonic super powered jet straight into the air at top speed.  It whip lashed and spiraled and did nosedive after nosedive.  Every boy got to take a turn flying the jet.  Friends from the preschool spontaneously joined us on the field with the same idea.  Their big beautiful kite flew across the island and into the river.  We shared our jet with them.  Eirik let his friends wear his spy watch and baseball gloves.  We raced around the field.  The boys tackled me and we laid in the deep green grass and watched the clouds sail by.   When the wind had blown us in circles enough, we drove to TV's diner for a meal out.  Eirik's dinner was a prize for completing all his reading during reading month.  Our host tried to seat us in the middle of the restaurant and we begged a more secluded table in the back, which we were pleased to have as soon as Teig spilled a whole glass of Diet Coke on Paul and screamed "no" through the whole meal.  The whole time we ate we played, "guess the animal" 20 questions.  The last animal was a preying mantis chosen by Paul.  At the end Paul explained that a female mantis eats the male after they have mated.  Eirik's eyes went down and then came up with a tear in them.  He whispered in my ear, "I never knew how much a didn't like females."  He was bothered the whole way home.  It is hard to be 35, but I sometimes forget how hard it must be to be 5.

The Wink

Paul sat his Diet Coke fountain drink down on the coffee table and proceeded to tell me a story.  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Joren had snuck the coke and was chugging it in the corner.  I gave him the "you know better" look and he looked back at me with a big wet, shiny smile and then winked at me!!!!!  How does he know that!  How was he born with the innate ability to do something he is not supposed to do and then wrap you around his little finger in the same moment?  It's a real skill.  He's gifted, crafty but gifted. 

something crawled up your

Tonight I overheard Paul teaching Eirik to say, "something crawled up your butt and died." Honestly, how am I supposed to raise polite children?!"

Eliza R. Snow

She was the editor of the first woman's newspaper, "Women's Exponent." Her constant theme was for Latter-Day Saint women to reach for their divine nature and nurture it. Her works still echo from pulpits today!" 

 

"It is the duty of each one of us to be a holy woman.  We shall have elevated aims, IF we are holy women.  We shall feel that we are to  perform important duties.  Noone is exempt from them.  There is no sister so isolated and her sphere so narrow but what she can do a great deal towards establishing the KIngdom of God upon the earth."

San Diego in March

Paul and I decided to trek out west for a Dermatology conference in San Diego.  I only had to be a little coerced for this trip.  Vacations are great, but sometimes they are so much work, there is a little dread attached.  We were able to convince my sweet mom to come out and spend a week with her grandsons.  For weeks prior to her arrival I was jotting down notes about things I could not forget to tell her and things I could do to make it easier.  Yes, she raised 6 kids and is one of the most capable people I know, nonetheless, she does not live here and to be thrown into someone else's frantic routine, with jet lag, has to be a touch stressful.  I ended up writing 3 typed pages of notes for her.  Also, Paul warned me that the dermatologists that attend these conferences are very well dressed and they spend their abundant means on looking good.  So, I was a bit concerned that my stay at home artist mom style would not be quite fitting.  Did I need to go to a lot of trouble to make sure I looked good?  No, but did I, yes.  Far too much, I have to admit.  I asked my friend Annie to help me go shopping and she helped me pick out some more professional clothes and a few cocktail dresses.  We went to Banana Republic and I got a coupon for 65% off of my entire purchase, so I just went ahead and bought Paul a nice suit, a blazer, pants and two pair of shoes.  For myself, I bought a black dress, 2 pair of pants, 3 pumps, 2 shirts, 2 pencil skirts, a gorgeous leather bag, a white coat and gold jewelry.  I totally splurged.  I have never spent so much on clothes in my life.  I felt great in my clothes and was glad to have them when we got there.   I think Paul was glad too.  

 The first night we were there we met a dermatologist from Portland named John Young and his office manager for dinner.  We had a nice discussion, but he did not offer Paul a moonlighting position.  He shared advise and offers to help fund us though.  That night we dressed up and went to a swanky club to dance.  The next day we went to classes and to the convention center.  I went around and learned about the companies that can help starting our practice.  We had a really nice lunch at a place called Sally's on the waterfront that we both really enjoyed.  That night we had a dinner at this really expensive restaurant called BICE with some drug reps.  Everyone drank a lot and after dinner we went to an Irish pub because it was St. Patrick's day.  After that there was a party for the Michigan Residents at the House of Blues.  That party was not fun and we walked home in the rain.  It rained for the first 4 days of our trip accompanied by lots of cold wind.  I had to do my hair 2 times some days.  Sunday the rain was very light and sporatic so we got to enjoy our time in the afternoon after spending all morning at the convention center at Bilbao Park.  We got to see the Spanish artist village.  Many artists were working in their studios there and we could go in and see them at work.  We go to see the botanical gardens and the art museum.  I was amazed to be able to walk right in and see Picasso's and Monet's and all the classics.  What a treat.  That night we met at Croces for another drug rep party.  I talked to Arathi and Anne Marie most of the time while most everyone else got really drunk.  Billy, Anne Marie and I went to a cupcake shop on our way home.

  On Monday it got sunny and we got a rental car, picked up Billy and Anne Marie and made a great day of it.  We went over to Coronado and saw the hotel.  Beautiful and spooky!  I loved it.  We ate at a wonderful place called Miguels.  It was an outdoor Mexican place.  I loved it so much.  If it were in Detroit, I would eat there all the time!  I had wonderful fish tacos and stuffed myself.  Then we drove up to La Jolla and enjoyed the drive the whole way.   We played on the beach and then went to the aquarium.  It was warm and sunny and I fell asleep in the sun on the bench looking out over the water.  It was dreamy.  We went on a wonderful hike up a small mountain with sage brush and red rocks and then down the other side to the beach.  We walked on the sand for 1/2 mile back to the car.  That was amazing.  I was in heaven.  We go tot drive by the San Diego temple on our way back to the hotel area where we ate an amazing fancy dinner at Sally's.  Incredible chefs work there!  What a feast.  The next day we came home.  I read "how to start a dermatology practice" on the way home.  I learned a lot about the business side of the field of dermatology and I feel like I will now be a lot better help as we start our practice next year.  We have to get going! :)

Gladys Knight

Last night Paul and I got to go to the stake center by the Detroit temple and watch Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices Choir perform gospel music.  It was quite a show.  Gladys and her husband shared their testimonies and conversion stories.  Brother McDowell, Gladys' husband said, "We are not her to convince you that this is the true church; we are here to inform you.  The Holy Ghost will do the convincing."  He was very cool.  Gladys Knight talked about families and the institution of marriage and how important it is to Heavenly Father.  She talked about Family Home Evening and  canning and quilting.  We sat next to this black couple.  Every few minutes the man would say, "Well" to show his support of their words.  It was awesome to sit by them.  The choir and Gladys worked hard to break down race barriers and I think they were effective.  I love that they came to Detroit.  I hope we get some more people attending church because of this show.  In other stakes where they have performed, there have been over 1000 referrals!   It was quite a night. 

I went overboard again.

Did I say I was looking forward to Eirik's party?  Well that was ridiculous!  I am so exhausted.  I think he had a good time, but that was WAY too much work.  When will I learn to keep it simple? 
Pictures to come.

Eirik 6 years.

Eirik's birthday is this week!
After Paul took the boys to a Piston's game a few weeks ago, Eirik decided he wanted a basketball party.  I have some great ideas for his party next weekend.  We invited his friends from school.  I can't wait!
I also can't believe my Eirik will be 6. He is excelling at school.  He is a great reader.  He is brilliant at math.  He is multiplying in his head and constantly asking about numbers.  He writes very well.  I have got to go through his box of papers.  I think I have every single piece of paper he has every written on.  I can't continue keeping everything.  I just love seeing him progress so much.  His schoolwork makes me really happy. His drawings are wonderful!  He is so sensitive and sweet.  No one can come to our house without him giving them a gift from his collection before they go.  He loves to give gifts and write people nice notes.  Eirik's teacher Mrs. Biro is wonderful.  I am so glad he gets to go to school.  I have lots of friends that homeschool and I could NEVER provide the amazing experience that he is getting in the classroom.  He is getting really good at typing and using a paint program on the computer and using other learning websites.  He is very responsible and gets his homework done with enthusiasm.  He gets up early without much trouble.  He still loves TV, but I love having school because we are much better about limiting it to 1-1.5 hours a day during the week.  It makes me much happier as a mom when they don't watch as much tv.  Eirik is really good to his brothers and is making lots of friends at school.  He likes church and I think he has a pretty good testimony and knowledge of the gospel. 
Eirik lost 2 teeth.  His first tooth he lost because he has an extra mesioden growing between his baby teeth and adult teeth.  His extra tooth looks like a pointed little shark tooth and we get to enjoy it until his adult tooth pushes it out.  It is a little bit frightening to be honest. :)  We call him shark tooth now as a nick name.  Eirik has given up costumes during the week, but as soon as we get friends over the first thing he wants to do is dress them all up like ninjas.  He loves to get crazy with his dad and play "little chitlins" and wrestle.  He is also getting much better at eating.  He has developed great eating habits and often chooses healthy foods over high fat foods.  I'm amazed and proud.  He is such a good boy.  I am too hard on him sometimes.  I love him so much.

The best night of my wife

FHE this week was about obedience.  (We need some more of that these days.)  We had a really yummy dinner, then banana splits.  Then we turned on some of our favorite dance music.  We often have dance parties, but this one was one to top all so far.  I pulled out all of our old glow sticks from the freezer and a bunch more new ones and we turned all the lights off.  We dance for a good long time having a wonderful time. Teig was adorable and the kids were so good about sharing and passing around the glow sticks and making cool things out of them.  Then, one of them broke and the glowing liquid spilled out on the floor, so the lucky boy holding that glow stick started splattering it all over the floor and cabinets.  Then we started writing on the floor, then the kids decided to take their shirts off and paint their chests, then they painted their faces with designs, and then, of course it was inevitable, they took off their bottoms and painted their you-know-whats.  I got in the spirit of it and painted a little heart on their bum cheeks.  They thought it was the coolest thing in the whole world and they were running around like crazy men dancing their little hearts out.  Joren said my favorite line "this is the best night of my wife." (life)

Tonight we had Friday Family Fun night. We've been pretty successful making Friday always pizza night and planning something fun to do.  Today is Dr. Suess's birthday and both kids talked about him at school so after dinner we looked on NetFlix for something by him. We found this cool play where actors played the characters from the book Cat in the Hat.  It was really clever and so fun to watch.  It was great for the kids imaginations.  When it was over we got our Dr. Suess books and chose one to act out.  We made elephant ears for Eirik and red tail feathers for Joren and got a big read blanket for Paul with paper white polka dots taped to it so he could be the egg in Horton and the Egg.  I was the narrarator and we gathered up guns and beach towels and circus flags and sticks to prop up the tree and then acted out the book.  The kids were so cute saying their lines as I fed them to them.  I think we started a family tradition because it was so fun.  Joren insisted on doing a scene where he got to play Horton so we ended up doing half of the story twice.  What a good night.

Another night this week we put some glow sticks in the tub with the kids, turned the light off, and Paul and I went an laid on the bed.  That was a nice evening too. :)

Last weekend Eirik got to stay up later with me as a reward for his good behavior.  I asked him what he wanted to do and he chose to sit and read with me by the fire.  Nothing in the world could have made me happier, especially because he let me read Farmer boy to him from the Laura Ingalls Wilder collection I bought them for Christmas.  We had such a special time snuggled under our afghans reading about milking cows in the middle of blizzards and trudging through school in moccasins in 2' of snow, 2 miles to sit in a one room schoolhouse to get an education.  I could not love those books more.  They teach just the things I want my kids to learn.  I want them to know how good they have it, what their ancestors gave up for us, the price of freedom, survivor skills, history and the things that are most important, family, education, God and love.  I hope we get lots more nights like that.

I made delicious Chicken cordon blue, Parmesan Tilapia, Enchiladas, and creamy experimental pasta that turned out amazing to serve with our pizza this week.   Sometimes I'm off as a cook, but sometimes I am on.  It was a great food week!

The best part about this week is that I learned what money can buy.  Paul thought I ought to buy a few things so that I felt comfortable in San Diego at the AOA convention we are going to in 2 weeks in San Diego.  I asked my friend Annie to come over and help me go through my closet to see what I have and what she thinks I need, then we went to Banana Republic and spent.... gasp.... $1500!!!  I bought a gorgeous gold sequin cocktail dress and gold strappy pumps.  I got 3 new skirts, 2 pair of black pants (one is velvet), gold earrings, necklace and bracelet, a gorgeous black cocktail dress, a white shirt, a white overcoat, a leather bag, an ivory shirt with jewels at the color, two pair of amazing pumps (in addition to the gold ones!) and I bought Paul a stunning suit, a blazer, khikis and 2 pair of shoes.  I won't be able to wear it all in one weekend, but when I got there I was handed a 50% off coupon off of my entire purchase and I opened a card so I got another 15% off and I had Annie with me to help me select the right things and everything I tried on I knew I would be able to wear for the next 5 years (as long as I don't get too fat or something), so I went for it.  Thank you Paul and moonlighting! I have never felt so spoiled and like a princess.  Everything I bought is totally high quality, which I am not really used to and it feels amazing.  When I tried on my new gold dress for Paul, the boys all wanted to touch me and be around me.  They said I looked like the most beautiful girl they had ever seen.  They wanted to dance with me and hang on me.  Isn't that interesting?  I would not have ever expected little boys to feel that way.  It is pretty amazing to be THE woman in so many boys lives.  I always feel like it's a fine balance between having some lovely, quality things and being obsessed and vain.  I have such nice clothes now, and so many that my closet is overflowing.  I am really spoiled and blessed.  It's so fun to love what you wear.  Am I going to get scabs on my head for feeling that way? 

It is March 2nd and we had yellow crocus blooming in or yard this week.  Spring is finally around the corner.  March is going to be amazing!!

JOREN: 4 yrs. 3 mo.

JOREN: 4 yrs. 3 mo.
Joren, Joren, Joren.  AAAAHHHH Joren.  Joren is so cute and so frustrating.  He is so hard to get mad at because he has such a way of being endearing and appearing innocent and naive.  It's sometimes really hard to know how much he is messing with me and how oblivious he really is.  When I try to talk to him about something important he often interrupts me with some sort of completely unrelated comment or request.  He is incredibly physical.  It seems he must be hanging on, crashing into, jumping off of or swinging from something at all times.  Often it is me.  I pulled him out of preschool at the beginning of the year because I felt he was too disruptive to class and I felt his behavior was too unpredictable to expect Mrs. Tobias to be in charge of keeping the other kids safe.  It has been almost 6 months since then and during that time Joren and I have tried to work on those things quite a bit.  I feel he has grown up a lot and matured so I put him back in preschool this week.  So far it has been pretty good.  I am so glad he gets to go be in Mrs. Tobias's class. She is such an amazing person and incredible teacher and the opportunities he is getting are very special.  The moms and dads are very involved and the field trips are amazing.  The parents all come in to volunteer and the parents are all so nice.  It's great to be back in the group for me too.  It's one of the only times I talk to non mormons on a regular basis.
Joren collects bones.  He made me give him the turkey bones from Thanksgiving and he has them in his bone collection in the freezer.  He checks on it often.  I know, gross.  He also loves little things, like little tiny folded up pieces of paper and notes.  He draws little people all the time.  They almost always look the same.  I have pages and pages full of drawings of these little people in his journal.  They are heads with legs coming out.  Basically, there isn't much more detail than that.  For a while he was really excited to paint with me and do crafts, but then he started to refuse to do anything I brought out, or he would modify the project so much that it involved a whole different set of materials and way more time and effort and he would get really stubborn about it.  It has been difficult to get him to cooperate.  I started letting him direct our mornings like we will make tools out of sticks and rocks (his insistence) or fairy people out of sticks or go on nature walks, or make spiders out of pom poms or anything else he can think of.  I thought I could be a good teacher with him one on one, but I don't feel I have been very effective at all.  He scratches and doodles all over his worksheets and won't concentrate.  We sit down to do reading lessons and he will take 30 minutes to go over a few sounds and words.  He fills in the time jumping on me and making funny faces and saying gibberish and complaining.  Once he finally gets around to it, he knows the sounds and can sound out the words and he feels really proud of himself, he just puts up a real fight about it.  I am hoping all of this behavior is normal 4 year old behavior.   I think it will be great for me to be in the preschool classroom with Joren, and I am so glad he gets to go to young 5's next year at Park Lane.  It sounds like a great program for him.  Joren has 7 stripes on his white belt in Tae Kwon Do. He is the youngest kid in the class.  He sometimes has trouble concentrating and keeping the rules, but he tries really hard and he is so cute out there throwing punches and kicks.  Both Eirik and Joren love it.
Joren is becoming a great eater.  He is over the impossible, eat nothing stage and we are in a nice comfortable, "I'm hungry" stage.  It is a good place to be for a mom.  He eats a lot of things, but his favorites are peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese.  (Of course.)  He still loves Diego and Backardigans.  He asks me all the time if he can go to foreign places someday.  He has a huge list of things he wants to do someday and places he wants to go! Huge!  I tell him yes every time, except when he asks if he can have a walrus or a deer for a pet.  (He asks that all the time.)  I tell him, the only way he can have a wolf or other viscous animals around him is if he works in a zoo.  He just might end up doing that.  He really wants a pet of every kind of animal.  He feeds his beta fish that he got for Christmas every day and loves him.  We caught a mouse in our house a few weeks ago and we had it in his little creature cage for a while.  Joren carried it around with him and he was the happiest little guy alive having that little mouse around.  He named him and talked about him constantly.  He died after only a few days.  (We think a trap wounded him initially.)
Joren likes to be naked all the time, likes to go outside with as little on as possible, won't wear socks and he has been making beds for himself on my kitchen cabinets.  He lays on the cold granite counter naked and tells me how comfortable his bed is.  He won't let me put covers over him except up to his waist at night.
He likes to mix up experiments with lots of various spices and food coloring.  He puts water in bags to freeze still.  He loves ice.  Paul took him to the Detroit Pistons game and Joren took off his shirt and was dancing in the isles like a little crazy man.  The people around him were saying "Go Joren, go Joren, go Joren" as he danced.  He does this little bent over scissor arms dance all the time that cracks us up.  He loves hard rock and gets really annoyed if I sing certain (lame) songs or play them on the radio.  He likes all things to be his idea so I have to be careful how I present them.  He likes to do things by himself.  He is a little man of action who uses words sparingly.  He is tender and loves to snuggle with me.  He loves to be read to and loves me to lay by him at night.  I love my crazy little monkey guy.

Teig 18 months

I got to talk to my parents on the phone this week and they complimented me and encouraged me to keep writing on my blog.  I loved hearing this and their support leads me to post an update about each boy which has not happened for a while.

TEIG:  18 months!
Teig is at such a great age.  He is super independent.  He decided he refuses to sit in his high chair.  He insists on standing on a big chair to eat his meals.  We finally broke his habit of climbing on the table constantly, so now he can eat at the table with us.  He also will NOT be fed.  He must feed himself.  If I try to insist on spooning something into his mouth he spits it out or throws it at me.  He is just like my other boys were at 18 months when they suddenly decided that they were only going to eat certain things.  For Teig it's a small number of items.  The only things he will regularly not refuse are raisins, milk and water.  He says mama and dada and baba and when you ask him to say Eirik or Joren he opens his mouth and mouths the words with no sound.  The cutest thing in the world is when you ask him to say Teig.  He tips his cute little head over so his ear touches his shoulder and gives a little look as if to say, "that's me".  Oh, it is to die for.  He loves cars.  He sits at the top of our slide in our basement and races our hot wheels down the slide for hours.  He loves balls of all kinds.  He loves Tor and other dogs.  He adores ducks.  He loves to chase them and make their sounds.  He loves to spot them in books.  On Christmas day Teig hit his head at the church and got a major cut on his forehead.  It is now a pretty significant scar.  We call it his Harry Potter Scar. Just a few weeks later as his head was still healing, he slipped on the wet floor after the boys flooded the kitchen and put his tooth through his lip in a horrible way.  It was a nasty cut.  I prayed with all my faith that God would help it heal quickly and a wound that I thought would normally take weeks to heal was invisible in a week.  His third scar is from a hot melt glue gun on his arm.  Baby skin is so tender and I just don't think those little scars will ever go away.  It breaks my heart that so early in his life he has had to suffer like that.  He's so tough though.  Amazingly tough.   
He is pretty fearless, and wise.  He nods his head "yes" in this slow precise fashion when he wants to answer a question in the affirmative.  He loves all things about farm animals and books.  He thinks tractors are really cool.  He is a really cute little dancer.  He loves to wear big shoes around all the time.  He loves to imitate me when I do dishes or put laundry in the machine or sweep or clean toilets.  He hates to have his diaper changed. He loves to be outside!  We can't wait for spring!!!  He is really really well behaved.  He goes to bed without too much trouble.  He asks for what he wants and needs.  He plays really well with other kids.  He loves his mama and give me great big hugs when I have not been with him for any length of time.  He blows me a kiss every night from his crib after I say goodnight.  He knows tons of animal sounds and sign language.  He understands so much of what we say.  He can say a little over half of his alphabet sounds.  I know that language light bulb is going to come on any minute and he is going to start jabbering away.  It's such a fun stage to watch happen.  He is really a delight.