Listen up!

Very recently, Leon decided that he has observed enough of the world to begin participating more actively in the verbal communication that he was somewhat indifferent for quite some time. The biggest inspiration and motivation for expressing himself has been communication with Dari. At first they started exchanging playful screams (to the delight of our neighbors, I'm sure) but more recently he has been actively copying all the sounds he hears, including coughs and sneezes, which is kind of funny.

He also understands much much more than you might expect and I cannot say anything about leaving the room in any way because he has all those phrases down pat! Yesterday, I told my Mom that I was going to go pick up Dari from school, to which Leon responded with desperate whimpers and when he kept saying "Da, Da, Da!" (his name for Dari) I asked (not exactly expecting an answer): "Do you want to come with me to get Dari?" Leon did not skip a beat and responded with the sign for "please" so I had no choice than to take him with me.

 

It worked out too, because as it turned out, Dari was working on a superhero cape when we arrived (a sheet of paper with some drawings that gets taped to one's shoulders to serve its intended purpose) and he announced that that one was for Leon, for when he grows up. Is your heart melting yet? Leon thought that Dari was talking a bit too long with that though, walked up, pulled Dari's sleeve and was very adamant about "explaining" why it was we were there :). Too funny. It is really fun to watch them play together although I am cringing half the time, when I look at the combination of a wobble-bobble-climber and an excited runner/kicker.

Speaking of which, Leon had his first slightly more serious bump, when he hit the side of the coffee table this past weekend (completely unassisted - did I say wobble-bobble?). Wounds freak me out, and this one right below his lip looked deep-ish, so I took him to the ER just to make sure it did not need any attention (it did not). There Leon charmed the nurses with his winks and blinks and got a great kick out of getting his pulse measured, which involved attaching a light to his finger (yay, stickers!), effectively converting the measuring device into a pull toy... what else, right? Leon followed that up with pushing a wheeled doctor's chair around while we waited to be seen and walked away with a puppy-shaped balloon sculpture. Hospitals are so fun!