More Laughing, Thank You!

Richie got his first scraped knee.


Last week Richie started laughing a new way. We keep trying to catch it on video, but no real luck. We have a great movie of him laughing his "old" way (with a hint of his new laugh) and with some new animal noises!...It will be uploaded as soon as I can get it to work.

(Our network has been crappy the last several days and I cannot get this video uploaded. I'll try again later.)

Here's the current list of animals and items he imitates:

1. Snake: Hiss with the tip of his tongue.
2. Butterfly: Fluttering his hand.
3. Dragonfly: Flicking his ear (this is from one of his books).
4. Crocodile: Open-mouth hiss.
5. Deer: Bouncing his hand on the round.
6. Squirrel: Clicking noise with his tongue.
7. Clock: Same as squirrel. He picked this one up on his own from the kitchen clock. When he wants to play with ML's bed-side clock (which has the same kind of face, only digital), he makes that noise. Took us a while to put that together.
8. Zebra: Similar to squirrel in response to a toy that makes a "gluck-gluck-gluck" noise.
9. Bird: Screech, like a hawk. No idea where he came up with it, but he does it consistently.
   
10. Elephant: Trumpeting.
11. Giraffe: Sticking out his tongue.
12. Horse: Pursing his lips.
13. Dog: Panting.
14. Cat: Meow (of sorts).
15. Cow: Moo.
16. Fish: Kissing noises.

We have not been able to get one video with all of these noises. He usually craps out after a couple if we have the camera on him. Then he just doesn't want to play anymore.

Richie has also learned the sign for "more," which he uses with great frequency especially when there are pancakes around. He is learning "please" and "thank you," but they are not as frequently spontaneous as "more." There is a good movie of this, too.

An interesting thing

Richie and I were in the park late Saturday afternoon. Overhead, we suddenly heard a Chinook Helicopter. Which was followed by another and then three more! Then there were two single propeller Helicopters that looked like what I have seen for the Marine One Helicopters. Looking at google maps, I realized it was Obama flying back to D.C. after his commencement address at West Point.

Back at the Zoo (and more, or less)

I'm still trying to figure out how he can take up so much of the bed?!


Richie has become completely fascinated by this gift from his cousin Beth:


Richie's first time playing Doctor!


Rushing to see his first patient...


His first physical exam...


We match so well!



We went back to the zoo last weekend and had another really good experience. We did not see the entire zoo like last time, but spent more time with animals that we know Richie likes.

We did not see (or maybe notice) the turtles on our first visit.


Thank goodness for strong glass...Don't eat my baby! He's not one of your Cheetos!


Notice what Richie is doing with his mouth. If you don't get it, watch the movies below and it will make sense. (He came up with this on his own!)


Kinda bald, kinda harry, kinda big....Just Like Daddy!



Spent lots of time with the fishies!



You need to see this...


And this


To understand this...


We were lucky enough to see this. I had no idea ML was taking a movie until I turned to her afterward and said, "We should have taken a movie of that!" To which she smiled and said, "I did." God I Love her!



I must have MORE FISH!

The wait is over!

He's so gosh-darn cute!

Huh.

Well, Richie has been doing something that's really cute: he's imitating animals! I thought I had a movie of it, but I don't. I'll have to make one and post it.

Animal impressions to which you can look forward are: Fish, Dog, Elephant, Horse, Cat and Cow. He won't always do all of them at once and the cat and cow often sound a lot alike, but I think it's super-cute!

I have one more week of night-shift...Hooray!