2 years, 3 months old:

Grae’s speech has exploded in the past few months. I used to keep a list on my phone of all of his new words, but it’s grown so quickly that I’ve lost count. He’s also begun to talk to us in a series of simple sentences!  It is so awesome! We are working with him on his pronunciations. There are a lot of words that only Ian and I can understand because we’ve learned to know what he means. Most folks don’t know that when Grae says “da da” he actually means thank you.

Some of our favorite Grae-isms so far:

• Night-Night Wall (his bed)
• He re-names anyone he wishes- he renamed RJ “Waldo” (we believe he is calling him “Brother”), where as Jay Jay is now known as “Guys.”  (When addressing both Grae and Jaydon, I must refer to them as Guys, and he just assumed that must be the other little dude’s name.)  Grandpa is Choo and/or Papa, and both grandmothers are called Nanny.
• Me: How old are  you, Grae?  Grae:  Eyes.  (I think we’ve talked about him having two eyes a few too many times)
• Apple Dis (Juice) is by far the most requested beverage
• When asked if he would like to use a spoon or fork to eat his dinner, he always chooses the “Poke”

We’ve waited anxiously to hear him speak over the last year and his gentle voice is the sweetest music to my ears.

I can’t help but hunger to learn more about my son… To hear him, in his own words, express his wants and joys, objections and frustrations. Just recently he has started to announce (in his little sing-song voice) “happy, happy!” when he is sitting between his Mommy and Daddy. (Talk about heart melting!) There will be plenty more for him to tell us one day, but for now, he’s already said everything I need to know.

🙂