Cedric surprises us every day with what he understands and can do. He learned to sign "more" and "all done" and is using the signs daily. He also understands the idea of "Hi and Goodbye", waving at people as they come and go. He starts waving whenever someone puts their shoes on or stands near the door. All done and waving are basically the same, so sometimes it gets confusing.
You can give him some basic commands, like asking him to put a toy in a bin and he can do it without being shown. When you ask him to do something more often than not he seems to understand and try to follow direction, which is nice. He can point to his head, belly, ear, toes and sometimes nose. His favorite word to say is still Mama, with Dada in a close second. He can also say (or tries to say) head, hat, hi, cheese, blueberry, and more. He can understand so many more words and it is cute to watch him practice saying something new. Pronunciation of a new word doesn't always stick from one day to the next but his understanding does. He is very smart (obviously) and seems very aware of his surroundings. We are going to have to start spelling words (like cheese) so he doesn't get excited and run to the fridge.
Cedric finally realized he can dance. I think he does a pretty good job of it. I first noticed it last week, he was swinging his arms a la "fat guy in a little coat" style. He did it two more times in the car and really busted a move on the drive home Saturday night after dinner. So Sunday we spent a good part of the afternoon trying to dance party. Sadly, Cedric's taste in music is not as sophisticated as I'd like but that is probably one reason why he has waited so long to dance. Kinda hard to bust a move to Bon Iver.
Cedric loves going to parks. He can go down a slide alone (he prefers head first) and always has to hit the swings. The bigger the push, the better! He likes to play in the sand or wood chips, though he is concerned about brushing his hands off if they get too dirty. I'm sad that winter is practically here, he is going to miss all the park time he's had this fall.
We have been going to more play dates lately and Cedric is enjoying seeing other children. He likes to try and touch them. He doesn't like to share but he also doesn't take toys out of other children's hands. He just figures that once he has the toy that it belongs to him. We'll work on it.
Cedric loves books and right now the favorite is "I Love Beasts" by Emma Dodd, one of the books from the Trundles. He also loves any book with flaps. We also have started watching a little TV (don't shoot me) and he likes Curious George. He also has a Curious George book that he makes me read 4 times a day. Bob thinks that I like Curious George, that Cedric is just going a long with it and I'm "not to get carried away" with it. Did you know there is a Curious George store in Cambridge? :) Mostly he loves anything with wheels. Trucks are number 1 to the point where we can't walk by the toy section of a store without him trying to take trucks off the shelves and push their box around.
I know I'm missing a lot, he changes daily and is growing fast. We are off to Kansas on Wednesday for Thanksgiving and I can't wait for everyone to see how he has grown!
