Adventures at the Park...and more!

After reflecting about how cold and grey it is back home, how fortunate we are to live in the land of sun and warmth...I'm sure I will be singing a different tune come later this spring when we are packing boxes in triple digit temperatures. So off to the park we go these days. Vinny is so much more, dare I say, athletic, traversing the playscape. He is swift and steady on his feet, and can climb up the steps, some quite steep, all by himself.

No more baby slides for Vinny! He bypasses those and runs straight for the tallest, bumpiest slides on the playscape...and does not hesitate to zoom all the way down! It's hard to catch a shot of him in action!
And what trip to the park would be complete without feeding the ducks and geese? While reading On the Night You Were Born, I pointed out the geese on a page and said honk honk, and it's since become one of Vinny's favorite animal sounds...although it sounds more like "hawn-hawn." So off to the pond we go to talk to the water fowl in their own language and toss some bits of bread their way. Vinny must think the ducks are pretty intense birds, because his quack is half roar, and altogether hilarious!

While I am thinking of it, I should probably document all of his animal sounds to date:

• moo-moo (he loves to go for walks behind our neighborhood and visit the "moo-moos" through the fence)
• naaaaay
• rahr (lion/bear)
• quah-quah (ducks)
• hawn-hawn (geese)
• baa, just baa
• ruh-ruh, ruh-ruh (dog)
• meew (cat)
• ssssssssss (snake, duh)
• swee swee (mouse)
• twee-twee (bird)
• he does a pretty adorable elephant that I couldn't even begin to reproduce in letters...but it involves a high pitched blowing squeal with his fist curled up to his nose.

Vinny is also starting to use more and more words.

• He's known just about all his colors for a while now and loves to say their names as he colors at his easel. Our favorites are "lellow" and "bwoo." He is now starting to say "go" when we see green lights and "stah" when we get to red lights, all with hand motions!
• He points and counts, and it would appear he is already working on his one to one correspondence. Although, when he began all numbers were "one" just with different inflections. Now, everything is "twooooo" with the same inflections that we would count normally. We're working on holding up two fingers for his birthday next month!
• Recently I caught Vinny reading his Elmo bath book in the tub, turning each page one at a time and pointing to the baby saying "dady" and then on to Elmo saying "Melmo." If he skipped a page he'd say "nooo" and shake his head much like he does when he mismatches his sorting blocks.

I have been waiting for the talking stage to get here for a long time now, and you can imagine that it makes this mommy proud!