Vinny Update

Vinny is growing and changing by leaps and bounds lately. He regularly cracks us up!

He can do lots of things now . . . eat with a spoon . . .

He claps after you sing a song. He can understand so many things and follow simple directions, like "Bring me your coat" or "Put that in the trash." In fact, I was mumbling to myself the other day about where James the train was and he traipsed right over to the cabinet where he had put it and pulled it out. I didn't even know he was listening!

We hit another big milestone recently . . . Vinny (with Sissy Ashley of course) got to spend the night first with Auntie Amy (and Grandma & Grandpa) a couple of weeks ago and also last night with Nonna & Pop. [Insert a big parental WOO-HOOOO!] I was a little sad at first, because it means he's really not a baby anymore . . . in fact, during that first quiet morning we had, I sat down and worked more on his baby book and we boxed up some infant toys. Talk about symbolic and sentimental moments for me. We were able to dump them both off -- I mean -- send them away -- I mean -- let them spend more time with family members because Vinny is down to only one nursing session per day now. Once in the late afternoon/evening.

He also regularly throws himself down on the floor if we tell him no about something. Recently, he was at Grandma and Grandpa's when they told him no about something in the kitchen. He marched away crying and then, once he reached the rug in the dining room, threw himself down. Guess he figured he didn't want to lay down on the hard floor.

And, he's really starting to show affection towards Ashley -- probably because she's often the one who runs to him the quickest if he falls down or needs help with a toy. The other day Ashley was sitting on the floor, and when he came in the room and saw her, he reached out and opened and closed his hands to her to say that he wanted a hug. So, she gave him a hug. He left the room for a minute or two and came back with a book. Ashley was still sitting on the floor and he turned around and backed himself right into her lap so she could read to him. It was so sweet. It's been really neat to see the attachment they have to each other. I hope they're always close and always take care of each other.

And, the cutest thing is that he said his first "real" word. He's done approximations for "yeah", "no", and "uh-oh". But, the other day he was definitely saying "Uh-oh!" I recorded it on all 15 electronic devices we own, of course, and called Nick right away.