When did that happen?

We looked up the other day and realized that Ian talks now. Like, in somewhat full sentences. For instance, last week he came flying into the room from upstairs and said, “Mom, I can’t find my cooking stuff.” Just like that. And I said, “Did you look in the cabinet where we keep your cooking stuff?” And he said, “No, okay. I look there.” Then I did a quick double take and realized that I had sort of just had a real conversation with our son. You know, like one you could envision having with an adult.

And I have to say that it’s the neatest and most fascinating thing to watch your child develop like that before your very eyes. For nearly three years now, almost every week brings something new – whether it’s smiling for the first time, sitting up, walking, saying first words, saying new words he didn’t know the day before and then before you know it – talking in sentences.

Of course don’t get me wrong – there are still plenty of language missteps and general confusion when we are trying to explain something to him or he’s trying to communicate a thought to us. Like today I was trying to explain to him that Aunt Jill was going to have a baby soon and that the baby would be his new little cousin. Well, he looked at me like I was from Mars. And then he said, “Oh, yay! We see baby Aunt Jill cousin!” (Or something incomprehensible like that.) Then he was suddenly convinced that talking about Aunt Jill meant that we were going to see her today. “Mommy, we going to see Aunt Jill? We see Aunt Jill today?” At which point I spent the next five minutes explaining that unfortunately we were not going to be able to see Aunt Jill today. This eventually ended with his sad voice version of, “Oh, okay.”

But we also appear to be making some sudden and significant progress on the letter recognition front. I have no idea where he got this from, but I can only assume that preschool thing might be paying off. Last night Jeff was sitting with him playing games on his “laughtop” (which he loves – thanks Dad and DeAnn) and Jeff said that he was recognizing the letters enough to score big points in the game – and saying the words that matched the letters.

Then today, he got some new books that we ordered through school. One is a really cute letter book called Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Two pages at the front just have big alphabet letters and I pointed to one and asked him what letter that was – positive he’d never know in a million years – and he got it right! Thinking perhaps it was beginner’s luck, I tried again. Again, he got it right. And another. And another. Before I knew it, I was online checking into Harvard’s early admissions process. Just kidding. It was just Oregon State. But seriously, the last time I focused on Ian and the alphabet, it was a couple of months ago and I was searching for articles on BabyCenter about normal development because I read somewhere that a few kids his age “knew the alphabet” already (which really meant they knew how to sing the alphabet song). Finally I decided I was being a paranoid parent and stopped worrying about it. Then suddenly we turn around and he’s recognizing letters. Now that’s just crazy. I can’t wait to see what develops next.

Until I write again.

PS - Today's picture has absolutely nothing to do with talking. I just didn't have a good picture to go with this post and like that picture because it exhibits the great joy he had the day his mother won him his first stuffed animal at the state fair in September.