word wall

alright. i have not edited the word wall for quite some time, because frankly, it has been a bit of frustration for me. i think i wrote about this in an earlier post- i really thought the whole speaking/new word bit would be more cut and dried. now, this could be largely due to my personality (getting big nods from my husband. he thinks it is ridiculous that i have been struggling so over the validity of the words boden has spoken/not spoken.). it is getting to the point now that i am starting to loose track of order (again, something that eric doesn't seem to think is a big deal :) ), and i'm sure you all would like to be kept more up to date on his vocabulary (right? :) ).

so, here it is. a few weeks ago we added doggie to the list. now, there were four of us that heard him say doggie over a couple day period, which would seem like some pretty hardcore proof. except, until yesterday, we had tried and tried to get him to say it again with pretty much no success (yesterday was steenwyk christmas and grammy and papa got boden this cool truck with a four-wheeler in the back with a tent and some figurines that included a black doggie that looked like rambo (an old steenwyk dog from days past). he was just about as interested in the dog as the truck, and eric and i thought we heard him say doggie once or twice. but we spent some time at auntie liz's and uncle (brother) mike's house this weekend, both of which have dogs (boden loved them btw), but the most we could get out of him was a moo (cite previous blog entry.)). so, even though i know we heard him say it a few times, i have been having a hard time wondering if i should have added it to the list (i'm pathetic i know. i have no excuse.). so.... i have decided to edit it with an asterisk. yes, we have heard him say it in context, but can we get him to say it consistently?????

segue into gramma and uncle robbie. i have heard boden say maamaw (for gramma) on more than one occasion. boden often times goes around the house saying obbie bobbie obbie (and i think, it seems a bit of a stretch to think he would have uncle robbie spontaneously on the brain. though, he will often times start talking about cars.). also, there have been times that we have been looking at pictures and will say: "who is it? is it uncle robbie?" and boden will start saying bobbie or obbie. but it is not rock solid. sometimes he will be more interested in getting to the keyboard or mooing at an animal also in the picture. so.... i am opting for an asterisk in the official word wall. yes, we have heard him say it, but can we get the consistency????

boden loves balls. big, small, rubber, plastic.... (i would be tempted to say that they could nearly bump cars into second place. i can't say that for sure, it is sooooo close! the balls that came with his popper that aunt emily got him have become almost a lovey. it is not enough for him to have one in his hand. often he will crawl around on the floor looking under things until he can find a ball for each hand, sometimes he is not content until he finds a third (he can now hold two of those balls in one hand.). when he does find them, you can almost feel the tension leave. he will many times take them to bed/nap clutched in his hands as he falls asleep :) ). so, we knew it wouldn't be long before he uttered the word. which, sounds with a 'w' (baw) on the end rather that 'll' (ball).

papa. we had suspected for some time that boden might be saying papa, but after our combining outing we were quite sure (we thought he was saying it a few times in the combine and then the next day when we were looking at pictures, with no prompting at all, he started saying papa each time papa was in the picture.). and if there were any doubts in our minds, he surely put them to rest this weekend during our steenwyk thanksgiving/christmas weekend. nearly every time he saw papa he would break into a big smile and start saying "papa, papa, papa." one of the cutest times was when we were all eating a meal at grammy and papa's very big table. boden heard papa talking, but couldn't see him, so he started to say "papa papa" all careening his head back and forth trying to look around people so that he could see him :).

the next and final word posted on the word wall to date is surprisingly, 'water'. it is not like boden loves water more than other foods/drinks. if i had to guess i would think he would prefer milk over water. as i'm writing this though, i think of how much he likes to take a bath or put his hand in a glass of water, so maybe??? anyway, he will say water (rather wawa. brother mike said it was legit to document it if he is clearly using it in context.) whenever he is drinking water, or sees some on the table. consequently, he is getting much more of an opportunity to practice drinking from a "big boy" cup than we had been giving him before. (as he is getting better at communicating, i am noticing that he is wanting to do things at certain times that i never gave him the chance before. example: a couple weeks ago, boden started going to his high chair when he was hungry. ever since then he has been going to his high chair around 9am wanting a snack. big deal you say? well, up until now, i hadn't been giving him a morning snack! i guess i wouldn't think of it because i rarely have a morning snack and it is not near such a long stretch as between lunch and dinner. makes me feel a bit guilty. wonder what else he would like that i just don't think about :).).

wow! if you made it to the end of this post, you must surely love and are smitten with boden nearly as much as we are!!! thank you for letting me get this off my chest. hopefully i will be able to move on with life now :).