Language

Manu is picking up words right and left (or perhaps I should say "up" and "down" since that is his new favorite pairing).

I love when he walks around saying "oh, my!", which is what I say to him when I come across him making a huge mess.

Of course, I think everything he says is darling.

Except "no."  That's cute only very rarely.

Nate has been working his tail off lately (Thanks!), leaving Manu and I lots and lots of time together.  And so I've recently realized that while Manu is definitely picking up language quickly, he's also at that that stage where many of his word are completely unintelligible.

That is, unintelligible to anyone besides myself.  It's one of those warm, cozy, motherhood moments to realize that you and your child have your own special language.

I know that when Manu closes a book and says "ee ee" (it's very hard to convert this into text), that he's not just making random sounds, he's really saying "the end."  Though they sound very similar, I can distinguish between "no" and "down."  "Bukaw" is Grandpa, "dup" means duck, and occasionally I even flatter myself that he's trying to copy when I say "thank you."

This must be how our Father in Heaven feels toward us.  No other person knows Manu better than Nate and I, just as no one will ever know us the way that our Heavenly Father knows us.
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For those of you who come here for something a little less gushy:

Manu dumped out the salt shaker.  Four times in one week.  You'd think I'd learn after the first time that the table is not a safe place for the salt shaker.

This is a caricature of Manu that was taken at a birthday party last week.  I think it's cute, but doesn't look much like him.

Reading

Manu loves books.

 It must be genetically inherited from his Daddy.  He loves looking at books, reading books, and our weekly trip to the library.

Our library has toddler-sized tables near the board books.  These squatty little counters have wooden letter puzzles on them, perfect for a pint-sized library frequenter to play with.  Early on in our library adventures we had a scolding from a worn-out librarian who did not appreciate Manu's rather enthusiastic exploration of the alphabet (In her defense they were all over.  I'm sure she was tired of picking up letters).

We've since made friends with the old librarian, and even though Manu is still sometimes downright boisterous in his pursuit of alphabetical familiarity, she gives us a smile.   And Manu seems to like the library more each week.

But most of all, he loves when Nate is home to read bedtime stories to him.