Yesterday Jax started saying "Da Da" in context. When I brought him in bed with me in the morning, he rolled over and peered to Benjamin's side of the bed. Then, "Da Da," he said.
That evening I gave him a bath. This is usually Benjamin's time of the day with Jax. I take a shower while Benjamin bathes Jax. As I was getting Jax dressed, he kept looking around the room and repeating, "Da da...Da da..." Benjamin was in our bedroom, but he heard Jax saying it over the monitor.
Then when Jax and I came back into our bedroom, I put Jax in the swing while getting last minute things together for bedtime. Benjamin came around the corner, and when Jax spotted him, he said it again.
Benjamin has been disappointed that Jax has been saying "Muh Muh" for so long and hasn't started Da Da yet. I tried explaining part of it is the development of language and shapes of the mouth. "Muh" and "buh" are made with the lips opening and closing. "Gee" and "dee" are made with the throat. "Da" uses the tongue shaped against the roof of the mouth - a harder sound to learn than the others. "Don't worry; he'll get there," I would always say.
And he has.
Yesterday afternoon after I finished my blog post, we headed to my Tita's house. We spent the afternoon chatting, watching Jax crawl, looking at her garden. She told me she lost her emerald ring in her giant outdoor trashcan full of leaves. "Better to let it return to where it came from," she said, as if resigning herself to fate. I called Benjamin and he came and sorted through her entire trashcan full of wet leaves, stinky mud, flies, and maggots. Just when he was finishing, I decided to look around Tita's room. And of course it was right there on her bedroom counter.
For his labors, Tita served us all dinner, and Jax got his first taste of Tita's cooking. We took a video of him grabbing fistfuls of rice and beans and trying to shove it all in his mouth. It's the only video I think I have of Tita just laughing out loud. I'm glad I have it. I remember when my Grandma died we were all trying to remember how her laugh sounded, and we finally found a video. It's these little, sweet things that you cherish the most.
It was a beautiful afternoon to close out an irregular day. Today has been delightful as usual. Jax slept wonderfully with only one waking last night, and he's taken one perfect nap and is down to sleep for another. I've been accomplishing little tasks all day.
Also today, Jax has started to explore the world around him using his new-found crawling skills. He's still crawled to me several times today, but he's also left my side and crawled elsewhere. To his toys, into the bedroom closet (presumably looking for muddy shoes to chomp on), to a floor-length mirror where he discovered a new friend - to his great delight. Yesterday he found the box of papers under my desk that I knew needed to get put up. Luckily I was right there to take it away from him.
His most recent favorite toy is the rubber tire inner tube from his Bob stroller. We replaced all the tubes with thorn-resistant tubes, because they kept going flat from all the stiff burrs that grow on the sides of our street.
And for those new toys, he gets to thank our very favorite Da Da.
HERS | Blouse thrifted (and worn backward...I'll show you the front some time) | Tank Old Navy | Shorts thrifted (Merona by Target) | Shoes Sketchers (my "go-to" casual shoe brand prior to Crocs) | Necklace thrifted
