Party Tricks

I really try not to compare LO to others his age or to his friends. It's hard though. At this age there is often a lot of variation in what is normal. Kids tend to excel in one area of development while the others take a back seat and then play catch-up in another area next. Parents (moms especially) LOVE to talk about the newest thing their LO is doing. To those without LOs, this seems to be bragging and ongoing. To the rest of us it's pretty great.

This is about the time when little ones come up with great party tricks and moms just eat up any opportunity to show them off (which is often followed by absolute refusal on the part of the kids to do the trick for an audience.) All that means that even when I really try to not compare LO, the comparisons just happen anyway. A few weeks ago one mom oozed "my little guy is (insert trick here).... is your LO doing that yet?" Yeah, sometimes this game is sweet and fun, other times it's a little catty. As an aside, if any moms out there have the official playground social etiquette guide, could you please send it my way...I need to study before spring!

Anyway, I think this blog is a great place to share party tricks. Readers can skip them, turn them off, pause them, or replay them. I'll never know. Moreover, LO doesn't know you're watching/reading, so maybe he won't be shy about showing off....

Here's what LO has picked up in the last week or so. Some of these are long overdue, but fun nevertheless.

1) clapping- LO does not like for me to guide his hands to do ANYTHING. As a result, it has been hard to teach him to clap. He liked to take my hand and DH's hand and make them clap, then he would give us "high five." Suddenly, in the last week, he started randomly clapping. He still doesn't do it a lot, but it's fun when he does.

2) Blowing kisses. Usually by request. So fun.

3) Doodle doo- (as in "cock-a...") This also came out of nowhere. We were reading the Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle and I made all the animal sounds. Apparently the "doodle-do" was interesting enough to copy. Now everything is "doodle-do". "What does the dog say?" "Doodle-do" (even though he knows it's "woof"), "where's Dada?" "Doodle-doo", or even when he's not taking a nap "doodle-doo".

4) Standing up- last Sunday, LO just stood up without holding on to anything! He did it once Sunday, once Monday, then not again until tonight. Sure, most kids have been doing this for months by now, but we're tickled pink all the same!

(Sorry everyone, I have video for this post, but our new OS doesn't like our camera, so I can't get the footage on the computer. If we figure out a solution to that, I'll be sure to update the post and let you know!)