Spinning and Talking

John has an electronic phone (one of his few electronic toys) that plays music. His favorite is "number 8," Pop Goes the Weasel, which plays when he hits the 8-key. He was spinning in circles to that song when Chris began filming the below (and the music stopped playing).

This period of language explosion is so delightful to me. John can now make so many sounds that he imitates our words right on the spot and my new guideline for whether John has acquired a new word is if he actually keeps using it, instead of just parroting it back several times in one conversation. He's learning several new words per day! Recent words are nurse, rain, bye, hi, B (the letter), and read.

In other news, John is now drinking cow's milk! Pregnancy hormones eventually stop lactation, so I was very upset that John refused all other forms of milk I offered him (cow, goat, chocolate, soy, rice, oat, etc.) and was getting no milk at all for about six weeks. It is so important for brain development at this age! I was about to starve him out (refusing him all water until he would drink milk) when a friend gave me a great idea that has worked. Using an opaque cup, I began putting one tablespoon of milk in his water. The first time I put in two tablespoons, John spit it out like it was poison! Gradually I increased the milk every day and John became accustomed to it. It has taken only about a month and this morning he was drinking 100% milk! I note that he still will drink it only from an opaque cup. A clear cup and he rejects that weird white stuff!