Comprehension

lying down
Originally uploaded by Crit Chicken

Erik's comprehension has taken a great leap (or perhaps it's just my faith in it) in the last week or so. The other day I was looking for something in the lounge room that I thought he had played with and moved. Couldn't find it. The beloved came home, and I related my tale of woe "if only he could talk" he said. Which made me think "well, he can't talk, but he sure understands a lot". So I said to E, "do you know where the other one of these is?" and he lay down on the floor and looked under the buffet (which is what I'd done to try to find it). D'Arcy went to get a torch, and lo, it was there!

This photo is today's comprehension, and also the first real exhibition of humour I've seen from this boy. I said to him "why don't you come and lie on the rug so I can change your nappy?" so he came and lay on the rug. Face down. Huge grin on his face. He thought he was being so clever. We laughed about that for quite a while, and then he eventually turned over so I could change him. The changing process was much easier than usual too, no struggling and yelling from either of us!

Erik's other joke is when he's playing with something he's not really supposed to have, I'll sometimes say "well, OK, but if you put it in your mouth, I'll have to take it away, it's not safe for babies". He looks at me, and very deliberately puts it near his mouth. When I say "no, not in your mouth" he takes it away again, but a few seconds later he does it again. Almost like he's saying "Well, now can I put it in my mouth? How about now? Now?" Very cute.

I had a birthday party yesterday and forgot to take any photos at all, but fun was had, and we had a lot of food left over. I made a cake and some scones, D'Arcy made fairy bread, and my mum made tiny little pizzas that were so popular I missed out on them altogether, as I was making the scones at the time.

A musical education

So the beloved has recently outed himself as a 'Queen tragic' as he put it. I think this is a fantastic thing. This came about as the result of a number of things, mainly the fact that one of the music channels on our cable service had an entire weekend of Queen, most of which we actually forgot to watch. We also watch that channel as our default "there's nothing on TV" choice. They have an 80s at 8 segment which is occasionally amusing. D'Arcy was slightly bemused by the video for I Want to Break Free so I decided he needed more Queen in his life and showed him some videos on Youtube. He was particularly taken with We Will Rock You (which I think he'd heard some other kids singing at school).

Then, last week, the beloved conveniently had a birthday, so we got him A Night at the Opera because, despite being a Queen tragic all his Queen is on vinyl, and probably unplayable by now. D'Arcy was interested to hear Bohemian Rhapsody and has been wandering around singing it ever since. He came home from school singing it today, so we put the CD on again.

In case you need more Queen in your life too...

New things happening...

Stack
Originally uploaded by Crit Chicken

Erik likes to stack things one on top of the other. This is an example. The yellow and orange bits are part of a stacking toy that we've just found in the cupboard. The blue is one of the cats' bowls. They seem to end up all over the house these days.

He's also learning how to stack himself (in more ways than one).



This is his favourite 'climbing box' with which he climbed on to the sofa yesterday. He was very pleased with himself. I was pleased that he managed not to fall off again. Mort, despite the fact that I got his claws trimmed about a fortnight ago, has managed to give Erik a nasty scratch right under the eye. I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do really...

In other news, D'Arcy has been wanting 'basketball lessons' for some time, and it turns out the local club actually offers something like that. It's a 6 week clinic-type thing for kids aged 7-9 where they go for 45 mins a week and learn skills. It starts this weekend, so he's pretty stoked about that.