He is really into HOW things work, WHAT they do (and can do), and is very busy figuring out how he can manipulate them. For example, one day last month, Neb was watching B-Boy. He had him fenced in the living room, and blocked the way into the kitchen with the pack and play. The pack and play is not wide enough to completely block the opening. Normally, we use his little red chair to cover the remaining area.
B-Boy is too wide to crawl through this gap, and so Neb didn't include the chair in his fence, thinking all was fine.
B-Boy crawled to the opening, realized he could not crawl through, and sat down to contemplate. The gears turned for a few minutes and then Neb reported the coolest thing. B-Boy stood up, grabbed on to the couch, turned his body sideways and proceeded to inch his way through the gap holding on to the couch and then the end table.
And then ZOOM! Off on all fours to explore the kitchen in a fit of giggles. The shocked (and impressed) Neb then had to chase after him, stumbling over the barricade.
That was last month. This month, B-Boy has learned some other new tricks. Our favorite one involves sticking out his tongue... which at this size is incredibly cute. The trick? If you stick out your tongue... he immediately smiles and sticks out his tongue. It's a sure fire way to make us smile. (And a trick I use to get him to smile when taking his picture if he is in a surely mood.)
Another one of B-Boy's tricks? He has learned to turn himself around with his walker toy. He is not yet walking on his own, but he is walking like a champ with his walker. He started using it as a way to prop himself up, it would hold him up while he walked. He gradually got more confident and now walks more upright with it, and can handle even the quickest of paces. He would walk the length of the house from the living room into the kitchen, stopping at the cabinets - stuck until one of us would gently help him to turn around. Then he would take off so proud of himself toward the living room once again.
But this week, he no longer needed help to turn around! I think that letting him play with his Red Ryder Scoot toy as a walker helped him figure out how to turn around and maintain his balance. I say this because the Scoot toy has four wheels like those on an office chair, and they turn on a dime. B-Boy learned how to steer using the toy as a walker... and I think that transfered to the four legged walker.
Neb and I are quite happy because now we can do other things beside chase B-Boy around to turn him around. Ah... so nice.
One more item to note, B-Boy is now happily sharing more, at least his pacifier and toys, with us. He will say "Ga!" and hand us his paci. I don't know exactly what "Ga!" means... I asked at daycare if they say "Give" but they said they say "Thank you"... so I don't know exactly what he is communicating, but it translates to "I would like you to have this... but you must be willing to give it right back, or I will SCREAM!" I don't know if he is doing this at school yet, but he consistently does it at home.
That's all on tricks for now. Stay connected for tomorrow's Halloween posting!
