Whoa!
Kinnell is so expressive these days. His vocabulary continues to grow — he’s started expressing more complex ideas like “mess, ” “mine,” “lookidat!” and “Oh man!”
He still calls Raimi mama, which is interesting — some combination of the “m” in Raimi and “mama” being a person he adores. He calls most animals by the sound they make — it’s like he completely understands how language works– how to name things and express what’s on your mind — but just doesn’t have all the words yet.
It’s so awesome driving around with him, because when he sees a tall building or big truck, he’ll shout, “WHOA!” really loudly like it’s the most amazing thing he’s ever seen. This cracks all of us up, including Raimi, who thinks his baby brother is pretty funny.
Kinnell seems to be working out the difference between trains and large trucks, because he gets excited and calls both choo-choo, as in “WHOA!!!!! lookidat choo choo.”
He takes special delight in saying “hello” and “bye-bye” to people, toy phones, and pictures in books. In restaurants and other public places, he spends a lot of time waving and saying hello to people nearby. If they catch his eye or say hello back, he gets shy but usually rewards them with a big smile.
Today when Kevin was carrying him into the daycare, Kinnell beamed at me with his big proud smile and said, “bye-bye” and waved, then “bye!” again. Still smiling, he kissed the air and I sent him a kiss back.