Signs of the Times (to Come)

And just like that, Leon said he was "all done" :). We we've been showing him the sign for a while, Dari most adamantly, and he mostly ignored us or thought it was funny. Until some cooked parsnip pieces found their way onto Leon's tray. He looked at Mommy to see if she was serious in giving him something else than broccoli florets (which he happens to be obsessed with) and slowly, but firmly, gave us a little "no no, not having this" with his right hand. Too funny. We know it was not a coincidence because RIGHT after that he made the sign for "more" when some rice chex came into view. So he had been watching us all along, just waiting for the right moment to say it all. This is him with the broccoli.

There are signs he is making mental strides (in addition to the cruising ones) at school too. The teachers regularly send us a chart with what he is currently doing and "what is next" - and although much of the time he will be doing the "nexts" at home already, it is nice to have someone track his progress in this way. Sometimes the details of those reports get pretty funny. Most recently we were informed that

Leon enjoys social play. He enjoys playing next to his friends.

That sounds about right, although measuring babies' levels of enjoyment is probably a challenging task. But let's just say they are eyeballing it. Now, the corresponding "next step" was this:

Show awareness of other children.

Is this just me, or do you generally have to be aware of something before someone can say that you (consciously) enjoy it? Poor Leon, school is hard already! You'd also be surprised what they come up with to detect cognitive leaps - his teachers now slotted him to master the skill of: "Leon turns his head away from his caregiver when he sees a tissue in her hand" (as in he does not want his nose wiped). That is supposed to show his understanding of regularities in life and memory of what happened recently. He'll get all As here, because he has definitely figured this particular one out, even if the school chart does not show it. We're all ready for an end to the sniffles season!