Maddox is quickly turning into a little boy. Every day he does something new that surprises me. It is apparent that he is paying attention to everything. We were sitting on the back steps early in the morning and a neighbor’s dog barked. Maddox started patting his leg and saying “Da! Da!”. He says “Da” for everything, but with different inflections. The patting his leg is the sign for “dog”. It was neat to see that he had been watching and learning.
We started baby swim lessons this week at UCSF Mission Bay. The pool is indoor and heated. It is on the second floor with one entire wall of windows overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Not a bad way to spend a Monday morning! So far the class is baby socializing and getting used to to doing water things while singing songs and hanging out with Mom. Maddox even went under water twice (on purpose)! To get the babies to hold their breath and close their eyes, you blow in the baby’s face then quickly dunk them while pulling them under water toward you.
The soundtrack to my life right now is “DA”. Â Everything is da. Â He has said it about a hundred zillion times just since I started writing this post. It’s amazing how many inflections and intonations he can make with just one word. It means cow, dog, cat, what is that?, I want that, daddy, drink, Lets go over there, and on and on.
Pointing is the other big thing. He points at EVERYTHING. The pointing is most often accompanied by a “Da!”. He will point one way with one hand and the other way with the other hand when there is just so much to look at he can’t decide what is best. Other times when he really really wants something and he wants to make sure you know what it is, he points with all his might and stares at the object until it almost catches fire. Then there is the Double Point – both arms outstretched and pointing at a single object. Often the Double Point is at a person that he wants to go to, or be picked up by.