It's been SO long since I updated with pictures of Clay so today's post is all about Clay and his adventures. He's 17 months old now and cute as can be.
He babbles a lot and still isn't saying a lot of words too clearly. Our pediatrician is expecting a "word explosion" soon so Mike and I are getting ready. His favorite thing to say is "Whassat?" (what's that?) but he also says "dada", "cat", "dog", "baby", "cars", "shoes", "hat", "hot" and probably some other words I can't remember.
The most important word we KNOW he knows and has said
maybe five times: "mama". Anytime you ask him who I am he replies, "dada". Stinker.
His newest words are "star" and "wow". He points out star shapes, stars in the sky and every star in every book and on anything you can imagine. He's so excited when he spots one.
He runs everywhere and Daddy and his Nana and Papa keep commenting on how fast he's getting (I don't even bother trying to chase him down anymore). He's still a great eater (eating everything from calamari to carrots) and a happy baby most of the time.
Clay had his first two haircuts this summer (and needs a third one). He has fine hair like his mama but daddy is a very good barber. Clay tries to be really still and watch his shows while he gets his style done. We haven't had any bad styles yet!
I love his tender heart even though it's
very tender sometimes. If I say anything that might sound like I'm admonishing him ("Don't do that", "No", "Clay" (in a stern tone)) he starts crying and won't stop until he comes and lays on me and calms down.
He also loves to laugh. His favorite is to have an audience and the more the audience laughs, the more Clay hams it up.
He has pretty much mastered eating with a fork and spoon. It's always faster when Mike and I feed him but we try to encourage his independence so we rarely feed him with a fork or spoon anymore.
He also points to his body parts. So far he does nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth and belly button.
He is definitely not a "performance oriented" child. I work with him all the time on his body parts and talking and other age appropriate things but he couldn't care less whether Mike and I know what he knows or not. Half the time he'll be happy to show you where his teeth are and the other half he acts like he's never heard the word in his life. He's a stinker alright!
He loves to read and will sit very still anytime you read him a book. If Mike and I are sitting somewhere it is not uncommon at all for Clay to bring us a book. He points to everything and asks "Whassat?". His new favorite book is "Time for Bed" because there are stars that he can point to on most every page.
It's been fun to watch him go from sitting with a book for 30 seconds to finishing an entire book because he's so focused on what's going on in the pictures. He's focusing on things a lot more now.
He goes from being a very social guy to a very shy guy really quickly. Mike's brother got married this summer and Clay gladly went with anyone (family, of course) who would take him "outside". Normally, he's super shy and buries his head when people talk to him but lately he's been waving and saying "hi".
Two of his favorite people are still his Nana and Papa. He will TOTALLY ditch Mike and I for them. Once they're holding him we can't get him to come back to us for love or money. They spoil him endlessly and he eats it up. Nana loves to hold him and hug him and kiss him and Papa loves to take him outside. Clay divides his time at their house between cuddling with Nana and riding the Mule with Papa.
Clay is so into animals right now and loves to go the pet store and other places with animals. Daddy loves to take him to Bass Pro Shops and look at all of the animals they have there and play with all of the fun stuff.
Last week we took him to Rainforest Cafe so he could look at all of the fun animals there, too. Our seats were right next to the elephants so we got really up close and personal with them.
After he got used to the elephants, he couldn't stop pointing at EVERYTHING and asking, "Whassat?". It was so fun for Mike and I to get to watch him explore everything and try to figure it all out.
One of the things that Clay is not that in to is art. I try and create art projects for him but they are usually a big flop. He will sit with some markers for a while and color a page but he loses interest pretty quickly with paints (finger and watercolor).
Last night Mike and I made him some edible finger paint (vanilla pudding and food coloring) so that he could paint a pumpkin picture for Halloween.
We got out the video camera and the digital (this kid has a picture of every day of his life!) and we put all of his paints and paper in front of him so we could watch the show. All we got was tears. Crocodile tears at our wonderful attempt at Clay's first piece of Halloween art. Oh well. I'm going to keep trying more things as he gets older but it seems like art just isn't his thing right now.
Whenever someone starts singing a song, Clay is immediately attracted. He does the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "This Little Light of Mine", "Pat a Cake", "God's World" and "Pat the Bible". So many times he'll be singing away and doing motions in the back seat as Mike and I are driving down the road. Precious moments.
This little boy is definitely the light of our lives. We feel extremely blessed to have such a smart, curious, tender, loving and adventurous baby boy. He makes Mike and I laugh every day and we couldn't be happier with the son God chose for us. We love to hold him and rock him and sing with him but most of all we just sit back and watch him enjoy the world.
