Eating and Talking

Gunnar has been struggling with his ability to feed himself. His hands are huge and get in the way of the small bits of food he tries to feed himself. I've noticed that the bigger the food item the easier it is for Gunnar to find the food amidst his massive bear hands. Teething biscuits and mum mum's have been the only thing that he has been able to successfully feed himself in the last few weeks.


So yesterday I decided to take a risk and offer him bow-tie pasta. It's soft enough to chew and big enough to hold. It was a hit! And I really think it improved his coordination with hand to mouth. Today he was far more successful getting his puffs in his mouth and even managed small bits of strawberry and a graham cracker!


Tonight while he was finishing his strawberry dessert John came home. For the first minute of his arrival G was saying "dee dee dee"...and I said "dee what? Delicious?" and without further prompting he looked right at John and said "DaddY!!!!" And suddenly it all made sense...why he'd been saying "EEE, Eee, Teee, Tee" all day today...he's been working on his second syllables. He's been saying "dadadada" "kikikikiki" for months but clearly he's been holding back on presenting his first word until he got it right. Not Dada..."Daddy"! He was so proud of himself he kept repeating it...until he got to the bath. While playing with his rubber ducky I asked "Gunnar what's that?" And he responded instantly with "Duck-EE" and a huge grin!!! And then he repeated "duckY, duckY, daddY" until he went to bed! 
I'm certain kitty will be next as I've heard him say Ki-Ki-Ki whenever a cat walks by and today he was saying "Tee Tee Tee"...So Fun!!!

Sadly..."mmm's" haven't made G's consonant list yet...so I think it will be a while before I hear the long awaited "mommy"....