Interpretation please!

Ivan is a modern baby. I said "hi" to him the other day and he cupped his hand over his ear. I couldn't figure out what he was doing, then Brian said Ivan was pretending to be on the phone! He has a play phone and enjoys "talking" in it sometimes with it facing the right way and other times not. Some babies wave when you say "hi", mine puts his "phone" to his ear!

It only just dawned on me how weird it is to have this little person to love and care for, who has his own feelings (joys, fears, frustrations), his own desires and ideas, but no words to communicate all this to us. He'll be whining for an hour at times before one of us realizes (ok, it's usually Brian!!) that Ivan is thirsty or something as basic as that. Poor boy guzzled his sippy cup when Brian gave it to him. Sometimes Ivan can make his needs known more easily. Like right now, he was screaming and reaching for his cup... ok, he's thirsty. At other times, he opens the cupboard, removes boxes of cereal, opens them and dumps the cereal on the floor for an impromptu picnic... aha, he's hungry! Sometimes we'll be playing on the floor and he will come up and hug me or one of the pets showing us his love.

As for language development, to all the grandparents and relatives, I gave you the chance to pick your own name, but Nana picked the easiest one, so I hate to tell you that Ivan is calling for her first. If it's any consolation, we're not sure if he's saying nana (as in grandma Nana) or nana (banana).

Here's one that has me stumped though. Ivan's cousins gave him a train set on a table with these miniature posts for electrical lines. Last night, Ivan would take a post in each hand, put them up to his ears, drop them and cry. He repeated this over and over again. I don't know if he was trying to stick them in his ears, or hoping they would just hover there, but he didn't like that they refused to stay where he'd put them. This mystery may never be solved.

Ivan had great fun in Houston for thanksgiving. He loved seeing his cousins and through some freak happenstance, he actually looks and has a similar personality to Christian, who is not at all blood related. We enjoyed playing darts. Ivan screamed and cheered each time someone threw a dart, no matter how well or poorly they did (now isn't that how it should be in sports?) We had incredible food, more than we could manage even though we stayed several days! It was fun seeing the beauty of Houston. The air is fresh and humid, the temperatures warm, the yards lush. We also enjoyed incredible countryside on the drive there and back. Incredible skies of blue with fluffy clouds, fields of gold, green or brown, pine trees (the Texas kinds) as well as leaf trees in their fall regalia. We had to travel out of town to catch a glimpse of fall, but I sure loved it, and needed it. The changing of the seasons is miraculous, although predictable.

I know this season of not knowing what Ivan wants will diminish with time as his vocabulary and charade playing abilities improve. Just as the holidays come and go and the seasons roll through again, this unknowing stage with Ivan will pass. But unlike the seasons, we will never come through this stage with him again. There is no day like today. Every minute he is learning, growing, different and we have the priviledge of walking with him as we too learn, grow and change. May we see the riches we have in each other and cherish them, for we will never walk this leg of the journey together again, tomorow is a new day. It's exciting and beautiful, but fleeting.