Two and a half weeks ago Henry started to tentatively repeat words that Dave and I said. One week ago, it stopped being so tentative. This has finally progressed to his using words to reference things without the one-time prerequisite "Hey Henry, what's that?" prompt. If I may, I'd like to reiterate that "finally" that's back there in that last sentence: FINALLY! It only took you 22 and a half months to pipe up, kid. What's up with that? Huh? Did you enjoy all of the funny looks the nurses were giving us when we said you weren't talking yet, not even a "mama" or a "dada", starting with your one year appointment? It's not nice, you know!
Anyway, I first noticed him labeling things on his own last week Friday when we stopped by Megan's house before heading over to Phoebe's for lunch. Henry went straight to her kitchen so he could rummage around in the cabinet where she keeps her Goldfish. While he did this, he repeatedly said "cracker". I was completely blown away. He has never used either sign language or spoken words to indicate what he wanted before. Now there's officially all sorts of talking going on over here. If I ask him if he wants milk he says "Milk!" If he sees a dog he says "Dog!" When he discovers the moon is out he says "Moooooo!" "N"'s are a little tough. You get the idea.
On Friday when we finally made it over to Phoebe's, Henry had a grand time exploring her house. It's big and there are lots of cool things, his favorites being the piano and a light Otto has in his room that projects moons, stars, and planets all over the ceiling and walls. Another object he found fascinating was the digital photo frame they have in the living room that runs through a series of photos. This one in particular caught Henry's attention:
In the photo, from left to right: Eric, Otto, Henry, my headless body, Leo, Ade's hands.
I thought he liked it because he noticed he was in it, but I was wrong. He pointed at Leo's shiny, bald pate, definitively declared "ball!", then turned to go back upstairs to look at the stars and moons.