Jamie-isms

As Jamie has been talking more and more, he keeps saying things that surprise me or that I just find hilarious.

One day soon after we got home from our Christmas travels, I told him we were going to play at his friend Teague's house. All day (and many days after) he kept saying "Teague house Teague house." Then he would start panting, which is how he says dog, because there is a dog at Teague's house. And then he said "water," because he apparently remembered that he once spent an entire afternoon putting Cheerios in the dog's water bowl. I believe that happened in October - I was so surprised that he remembered!

One day at dinner, Jamie randomly said "book." I didn't know why, there were no books around that I could see and Thomas and I weren't talking about them, but I just went with it. I told him, "Book? Sure, I like books." He replied, "Me too." I about fell out of my chair.

Last time we went to the zoo, he said "hi" to all the animals and waved to them. It was stinking cute. When we saw the gorillas, he called them "Daddy."

He plays with our phones a lot and holds them up to his ear as though he is talking to someone. Invariably when I ask who he is calling, he says "Matt." He likes to say his other uncle's names a lot too, and "pa" which is how he now says Grandpa. It seems everyone made a big impression on him at Christmas!

Jamie now says "ABC" a lot and sometimes even "ABCD." He'll repeat the entire alphabet after us, letter by letter. W is definitely the hardest to say. He has counted to 5 entirely on his own a couple times, and he knows 8, 9, 10 very well. His favorite numbers to say are "2, 3," which he repeats constantly. He really doesn't like to say 7. Often if I have him repeat numbers after me, he'll repeat 1 through 6, and then when I say 7, he'll skip to 8. Then I'll say 9 and he'll say 10.

Jamie had some diarrhea last week and I had to get up to change him in the night a few times. One of those times, as I was putting him back to sleep, he suddenly pulled out his paci and said "red ah-ah" and repeated it several times (that is how he says panda, thanks to Thomas). There are red pandas at the zoo and apparently he was thinking about them in the middle of the night. He likes to say "zoo" a lot and then list animals: "red ah-ah" and "rhino" and then he makes elephant and monkey noises.

One morning when I was holding him right after I got him out of his crib, he said "love Mommy." Possibly the best moment of my entire life.

Recently, while I was giving him a bath, he decided he was done. He clambered over the side of the tub into my arms and demanded "hug baby!" So I did. :)

Once when I had the fridge open, Jamie kept pointing to the pickle jar. I asked if he wanted to try one at lunch. All morning he went around saying "try pick." Then at lunch when I gave him one, he tasted it and almost immediately made a face and said "all done." Can't say I blame him, I'm not too fond of pickles myself.

When I ask what state we live in, he says "Tennessee" (pronounced Ten-see) and he can point out both Tennessee and Missouri on a map. He has a board book of the presidents and he can point out George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln - when he's cooperating, that is. A lot of the time he likes to point to different presidents and have me tell him about them. I love it so much.

He says his name a lot now, though it's pronounced "Bamie" and he also refers to himself as "baby." When he really wants something, he points at it and says "have!" over and over. Or alternatively he'll point to himself and say "baby" or "Jamie." When he wants to be held, he says very insistently, "Up! Up! Up! Up!" When I tell him it's time for lunch, he runs to the fridge and demands "Open! Open!" When he's carrying something heavy, he'll exclaim "Heavy!" in a very strained voice.

Jamie loves croutons. We had salad for dinner last night so they were on the table and he really wanted some. I told him he could have just one. He ate it happily and then looked at me and said "Two?"

He asks for specific songs by name. His favorites are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" ("baa baa") and "Row Row Your Boat" ("row boat").

Sometimes when I say, "Jamie, you're so cute," he'll say, "I cute! I cute!"

I love getting these little insights into his mind. He keeps me laughing, which is good because he can also drive me crazy sometimes. That is probably too many stories all at once for most
people . . .  but at least the grandparents will appreciate them :)