The Light Bulb Went Off!

Today was a great day.  Other than Griffin whining A LOT in his high chair ("all done, all done, alllll donnnnnne!!") and throwing most of his breakfast and lunch on the floor, (P.S. Griffin's personal chef/slave, oh that's right, that's me, made a giant batch of cinnamon raisin french toast for bfast- 1/5 of of a slice made it into his mouth.  I made 2 types of sandwiches for lunch- grilled cheese and canadian bacon on mini croissants, and almond butter and strawberry jam on multigrain english muffins- what's not to like?), we spent almost the entire day outside playing and soaking up the summer sun.  Our day was filled with visits to 2 playgrounds, a long walk into town for coffee, driveway playtime, an afternoon playground playdate with his Stroud kid buddies, dinner outside with Greta/Charlie/Annika, leftover birthday cake for dessert, and a super long 2.5 hour nap (for Griffin, not me) somewhere in between all that fun.

The best part of my day was hearing Griffin use several brand new words.  It's like a light bulb has gone off in his head, and as of today he can and is willing to try repeat words better than ever.  When we were leaving Hobbs Playground, I asked him to, "say bye bye to Audrey" (Suzanne's 4 week old baby, who Griffin has hung out with a total of 3 times), and he promptly said "bye bye Au-drey".  It was amazing.  He's been saying "avocado", his current favorite food, more and more.  Today was also the first time I heard him say 2 (well techincally 3) very important words.  "Thank you", and "Lovie" (I unraveled a new blue lovie today which he was super attached to).  Griff has always been great at signing "thank you" when prompted, and I've always said the words aloud while he signed them in hopes this day would come. Woohoo!  It's here!  It felt so satisfying to hear him stutter through but successfully tell me thank you today, a few times!  He also muttered something that sounded really close to "yellow" when I asked him to pick out which color bandaid he wanted to wear as a sticker on his knee (I lured him into the house by offering him stickers for his barely scratched knees).  Also, tonight as I turned off his light when putting him to bed, I said my usual "good night Griffin, love you." and I swear he said "night night mama" (he says this almost every night now) and "love you" (totally a first, assuming i heard him correctly).. as I closed the door to his room.. oh my sweet boy. 

Griffin talking melts my heart.  It's just the most adorable thing to hear his little boy voice.  I know that I have to savor and appreciate days like this where I witness such amazing aspects of his development.  Today is one of those days where being Griff's Mom is the best thing in the world.  (Dear Future Vicki, Re-read this blog entry on a day you want to put Griffin up for adoption...)

Pics from Hobbs Playground: