Chee!

Drew will be 17 months old tomorrow....and despite our best efforts, he's still not wanting to speak very much! He says mama and dada, and "baba" (referring to Ba Ba Black Sheep, one of his favorite songs) and "teeee!" (referring to the kitties), and "down" (meaning "down" and "up" and "all done" when he's done with a book), and "chee!" when I take his picture. And that's about it! Grant was this exact age when he started saying his first words aside from mama and dada. I was really worried about Grant.....I'm not so worried this time. Drew obviously understands almost everything we tell him, and he communicates with us in lots of ways.....so I'm just hoping the words will start coming soon.

It's funny because Grant's first word (just a few days before 17 months) was "cheese," but he said it in reference to the yellow stuff. That was (and still is) his favorite food....and I remember like it was yesterday the day that I gave him a piece of cheese and said, "cheeeeese" to him as I always did (like I said, by this point, I was getting worried!). And he said a very timid "cheese" back to me. It was such an exhilarating moment for me, and such a relief to see that he could actually say a word (aside from all of his babbling, of course).

So it's funny because Drew is NOT a cheese eater.....he doesn't usually care for it. But he's learned from Grant how to say "chee" when I take his picture. Last night he was putting on a show for me. He's gotten very interested in my camera and always wants to see the picture I've just taken. Last night he had fun saying "chee!" for the camera, then grabbing the camera to look at his pictures (he also grabs the camera and tries to press every button....I'm thankful we haven't deleted pictures yet). Here are a few of the smiley faces:


Success! Both boys are smiling and facing the camera for a picture! I never realized how difficult it would be to capture a good picture of two little kids together.....