The older kids told me that I MUST post about Joshua's ability to speak and understand English. They said, "Everyone is always asking us if he can even understand English and it is getting really annoying, would you please post about it!" (I think I mentioned yesterday they are honest.)
So I tell you Joshua is speaking full sentences. His vocabulary is vast. He is constantly asking, "What's that?" He remembers almost every word we give him. Here are some examples:
- Mommy drives an SUV.
- Daddy has a jeep.
- He also recognizes vans, cars, trailers, skidsteers, backhoes, firetrucks, garbage trucks, mail trucks, school buses, etc... He is moving onn to knowing what the parts of a car are names ie tires, wheels, exhaust pipe. Yep, he is detailed!
- He knows all the parts of his body by name.
- He knows what almost every animal "says"
- He is working on colors - he identifies colors with objects. So when asked what color a yellow object is, he responds, "Krissy's yellow car" or "red like firetruck"
- He repeats un-toddler-like phrases in conversation all the time. Like when asked if he wants more he has been known to respond, "No more, Joshua enough." When asked if he wanted to do something he responded, "maybe sometime."
- The ONLY words/phrases he still uses in Amharic are shinty/kaka (potty/poop), mah tah mah tah (night night) coach a bell (sit down) and hi ya toot (look at me). In all cases he also knows and sometimes uses the American words. In fact today he yelled, "Mommy, Joshua potty" for the first time and I was almost sad to hear one more native word crossed off his list.
- He does talk about himself in the third person all the time, referring to himself as Joshua never "me, mine, or I." Today we practiced "I did it!" instead of "Joshua help you."
- He is also sometimes hard to understand, but he is very patient and will repeat or gesture to make sure you get the point.
OK, onto what you really want... pictures. Messy pictures of Joshua's first painting experience. (I LOVE to paint with kids so this was VERY fun for me!)
He was NOT such a fan of fingerpaint at first. Can't you just feel his thought of "yucky?"
He started painting with just the very tip of his finger. He is not a fan of messy.
He slowly got a little less timid.
By the end he was digging in all by himself!
I call this a VICTORY PHOTO! See my son proudly wearing his blanket as a cape?
What is so super about that?
He used to freak at the thought of a cozy blanket, and now it is a source of comfort AND imaginary play. In the last week he has used his blanket as a cape, a horsey blanket, a place to hide, a snuggly comfort on Mommy's lap and as a lovey while he continues to fall asleep by himself!
He will never know how hard I worked for him to feel this comfortable with a simple blanket and that makes me smile.
