time is getting away

Peter is growing so fast and no one is managing to write anything down. He's an expert walker now. He was doing <5 steps starting in  August. September 27th I was going to an evening training class for our new job. Peter and I teach Mom-and-tot swimming. Peter was going to stay home with Daddy and I was trying to slip out before he noticed I was gone. He did notice, however, and just walked down the driveway after me. Daddy counted 27 steps before he lost count. Peter on fell when he tried to go up stairs. Daddy was the only person who witnessed the first big walk. Now he's pretty much unstoppable -- unless you put him in bulky shoes or very uneven ground. I saw him thinking about jumping today.

Peter was a cowboy for Halloween. He managed to keep the hat on for a few minutes.

He's almost swimming on his own-- kicking me to get away. He can jump in from the side, kick, put his face in & blow bubbles -- but not on command.

His spoken vocabulary includes:
mama, dada, bye bye, all done, hat, hot, hi, hey, woo woo (meaning train), juice (only understandable by me)

His signing vocabulary includes:
milk, more, ball, eat, drink, all done, bye bye, hi, no**, kitty, dog, mouse, fish, rain, snow, train* , hat, hot, up

*his own version, but clear and consistent

He can't make the fingers for cow, donkey and horse-- but he knows all of those signs are on the head, so he ends up signing hat for these. He also knows that the sign for shoes involves putting hands together. His version looks more like his version of ball. He's working on signing bird and airplane -- but they are still a work-in-progress.

Yesterday he almost went potty. We borrowed a potty from a friend. He knows what it is and what it's for-- but when I brought it home he was afraid to sit on it, so I put it in a corner and decided to wait. Yesterday he pulled it to the center of the room, opened it, closed it and sat on it. Then he stood up and started pulling on his clothes to let me know he wanted them off. Then he took my hand and led me to the bathroom and pulled on his clothes again. I took off his clothes and sat him on the toilet. Nothing happened. So, I demonstrated going potty and then sat  him up there again. Nothing happened. I took him in his room to get dressed and he sat on the floor and peed. Close!

Our friends Rob and Molly introduced us to the great family band Dan Zanes and Friends. We've seen them twice now. They are great to see live if you ever get a chance. Here's us with Father Goose at Jewsapalooza.