The Chatterbox

     I know every child is different, but I've never know a child Marcus' age to say so many words or communicate so well.  Maybe it's because he's OUR child and we think he's a genius, but then again, maybe he really IS that smart.
     Most every day, when he wakes up, his first word is ball.  This is the word he says most often and the word that is most clear.  He can, but won't say on command, "mama" and "daddy."  His version of car sounds like, "kuh" and when he says star (like the one hanging on our walls), it sounds just like "car."  He says "book" and our favorite word to hear him say is baby because he says it like, "bay-bee!"  It's just adorable.
     On the side of our fridge, we have pictures of our immediate family members.  Since none of them live close by, we show Marcus their pictures daily and go over who is who.  He can pick out his Aunt Liv any day of the week, but the only name he's able to say thus far is, "Papa" for his Papa John.  Yesterday, he actually said, "Papa," and pointed at all 3 of his grandpa's.  At least he gets the gist of it, but one day, I'm sure he'll say all their names.
     Earlier this week, I was dressing him to go out of the house.  Upon putting his shirt on, I said, "Marcus can you say ball?" and he said, "ball!"  Then I said, "can you say mama?" and he said, "ball."  "Can you say daddy?"  "Ball!"  "Can you say doggie?" and he said, "woof! woof!"  Then he and I both had a good giggle about it because he was joking with me!  He says, "gog" for dog, so I knew he was in control of what he was saying.  What a funny little boy we have!
     Thankfully, he's not yet said, "no" but I swear I think he said "zipper" the other night (only it sounded like "ipper").  Even though he hasn't yet said yes or no, he's very good at communicating his wants and needs.  If he doesn't want something, say that we're feeding him, he literally turns his head and hides it or he hits the food out of our hands (we're working on correcting that behavior).  If he wants something, he points, grunts, or signs, "more."
     He knows what we're saying, even though he can't say the words himself.  When we say, "let's go change your diaper" and walks into his room.  When it's time for a bath, we tell him and he heads into the bathroom.  He loves to go get books and have us read them to him and he especially loves playing/throwing a ball of any type.  Correction, he loves throwing anything ANYtime.  He throws his paci, he throws food, he throws books, and oh yeah, he throws balls!  He LOVES to throw anywhere, anytime.
     Anyhow, we're thankful for our little chatterbox and we love hearing him talk to himself before he falls asleep at night.  He's a great little boy and we're loving the new changes that come with him getting older.

On our way outside, even though it's getting colder.

"Cheese!"

Trying to grab my keys since he associates this with going outside.