Hump Day

We made it over the hump! Congrats to us SAHMs...it's halfway to the weekend.  Two days to recharge and let Daddy man the changing table.

Oliver was so excited for Hump Day that he woke up before 4am to sing a little song and bang on his crib.  Not once did he utter a "get me out of here" noise, but I was awake listening to him on the monitor and therefor quite bleh for the rest of the day.

We had plans to meet up with a friend from music class at the West Haven boardwalk for a stroll, but the sky was cloudy and the air chilly, so instead we met at the mall for lunch and some indoor play.  So, going by Oliver's level of excitement as we neared the play scape by Sears, I think I rely on the mall for passing the day a bit too much.  Seriously, he started yelling and stretching out his arms as we got closer.  It was hilarious.  He seriously knows where he is.  Plus the echo is fantastic. 

Today was a great day for adult conversation!  Lots of chatting time with music class mom in the afternoon, and this evening I got to get out all by myself for my book club.  I love my book club!  I didn't even finish the reading, and there were only 3 of us tonight (some evenings there are 12 ladies and priceless conversations), but still I enjoyed the time away from home on my own. 

My purchase of the day is a Baby Sign kit with flashcards, an instruction book, and a CD/sign book combo.  Oliver is so friggin smart! He understands about every single thing we say and, depending on how cooperative he feels like being, he can follow instructions no problem.  But he is not showing any interest in words.  I know, I know! Every kid is different and learns on their own schedule.  I think I've always figured my son is a genius and so I feel like he should at least be saying a FEW words.  I mean he won't even use "Mama" to refer to me.  He says it and he knows it's me, but he won't use it to talk about me or call me. 

I recently had a conversation with my in-laws about how day-care kids seem to use baby sign more than he at-home kids I know and we agreed it's probably because Mommy is able to figure out baby language in the one-on-one environment and so baby sign isn't as necessary.  Its true- Oliver totally makes himself known and I can tell what we wants most of the time.  But I saw this in the bargain section of Barnes and Noble, and so for $7 we are going to give baby sign a try.

Extra homework for myself.  I went through the flashcards already to pick out some words to start with.  Learning the songs and the signs that go with the songs is going to be extra work I didn't think too much about.  Crap.  Didn't think this completely through.  He's not going to teach himself.  I have to learn it, too, and teach it to him.  Alright fine.  We'll give it a try.  It is exciting to think of the potential new ways of communicating with my little man.  Have I mentioned how much I love him? Because I do.....Oh so much!!!!

PS- Baby #2 is moving MUCH more noticeably now and this pregster momma is LOVING IT! At this hour it's just about a week left!

PPS- I miss my camera so hard! I feel like I'm losing documentation opportunities!  Not that anything particularly special has been going on (well, Mother's Day I guess) but I miss taking tons of pictures of nothing every day!  Once I get it fixed Oliver will never touch it again!