Words!
Raimi has discovered his belly, and knows the names for other body parts, although he won’t point to them if he doesn’t feel like it. If you say, “Raimi, where’s your belly?” he’ll either lift up his shirt and stare at it, or go on with what he was doing. It depends on his mood.
For awhile, if you said, “Raimi, where are your teeth?” he would grin and put his finger into his mouth towards the back where it’s been hurting lately and where the tips of new molars have started pushing through. But lately he doesn’t really go for that.
The first one he figured out was “Where is Mommy’s nose?” but he doesn’t seem to like answering the question, “Where is your nose?” He sort of knows ears, but also doesn’t respond to questions about his eyes.
If you ask, “What does a doggy say?” he will say, “whou whou” and he even makes the doggy noise sometimes un-prompted, while pointing at a dog.
Everything he likes is “Da-doo.” Lights, daddy, the cat — all da-doo. When he’s sad he’ll call me ma-ma, but yesterday he called me daddy. But also yesterday, I was joking and I shouted “Raimi!” and he shouted back “mama!” We both thought that was pretty funny.
Yesterday it was warm out, so Raimi and I held hands and went for a walk. I forgot how interesting a pile of stones, a pine cone, or a seed pod can be. Raimi showed me those things, and I tickled his chin with a pansy and showed him how fast the clouds move across the sky.