Little Things

I'm copying my friend Melissa's blog post (thanks Melissa!) by writing down things about James that I don't want to ever forget, but that are part of our daily lives now.
1) James is currently obsessed with Elmo. Two Elmos sleep in his crib and he demands they are in there. He talks to them and plays with them when he wakes up and when he goes down for nap. It's been great to have more toys in the crib - it keeps James happier for far longer and gives us more time to rest in the morning.
2) At ALL meal times, James insists that Greg and I wear bibs along with him. He ALWAYS wears a puppy construction one, but Greg and I must wear the two different Elmo bibs. I always wear the Elmo and Cookie Monster one, and Greg wears the Elmo one. James will pick them each up, say "Mama" or "Dada" and hand them to us. I feel like an idiot wearing a bib, but hey!
3) James is into dipping. No, not that way. In the morning he must dip his waffles in syrup. At lunch or dinner he must dip his turkey or hot dog or pasta in ranch, ketchup or Parmesan cheese. He doesn't say "dip" but he motions with his hand that he wants to do it.
4) James's grasp of signs is getting stronger each day. While we'd like him to add more words each day (which he's doing - for example, yesterday he said "shower" out of the blue), we're very glad to be able to communicate with him more and more. It's making us ALL a LOT happier.
5) James is obsessed with the book "Go, Dog, Go". He prefers when Greg or I act it out while the other reads it aloud.
6) When Greg gets home -- James and I might be in the bathroom for bath, downstairs playing or anywhere upstairs -- James immediately forgets about me. Greg and James enjoy spending at least some part of each evening chasing each other around the house. It's a nice break for me.
7) Whenever I sing the "Down By The Station" song, I pause at the appropriate moment and James always says "toot toot" and pulls his bent arm down like he's pulling the train whistle.
8) The other day James helped me unload the groceries. He's quite good at it and really loves to help (he also helps unload the dishwasher - I put him in charge of silverware minus the sharp knives). I left all the non-perishable, non-food items for him to put in the pantry. He pulled his stool over and put everything up on the first shelf. When he accomplishes this task, he usually says what sounds like "I did that" and points until I applaud or say "Great job". Anyway, the other day I just pointed to the non-perishables and said, "These all go in the pantry". So, my good little boy took everything and put it in the pantry. Amongst those items was a new can of shaving cream for Greg. I noticed later that the pantry contained TWO cans of shaving cream. I guess James noticed that the other can was on the bathroom sink and decided that it too belonged in the pantry.
9) James has gotten into a bad habit of kicking his legs wildly when he gets a diaper change. I'm strong enough to hold him down but obviously need to get in there to clean him up. So that's been a little frustrating.
10) James has now figured out how to kiss on the lips and to blow kisses while saying "mwa". That just makes my day.

Thanks Melissa for the inspiration for my post!