Tian at Seven Weeks
Little Tian. He's such a little goofball and a fireball of love and giggles. He's a ham that certainly likes to have the attention on him. Many times, he seems older than he really is. I have to constantly remind myself that he has just turned two.
Tian likes to hug, kiss, blow kisses, wrestle, tumble, and do lots of things that 2 year-olds like to do. He's silly and loves to laugh. He'll make faces or silly sounds if he thinks it will make us laugh at him. (Much like his older brother!) He has an ornery streak and daily tests me on the rules. He's very sly, clever and understated when he's being mischievous.
He says quite a few words:
mama, baba, milk (mow), Hannah (anna), potty (pah-e), no no, TJ (ee-ay), Mackenzie (enzie), there he is (dah-e-is), bed, night-night (nie-nie) etc. He will mimic just about any sound we make, but doesn't speak much to communicate. He mostly uses one-word signs for that. While we have no doubt that he can hear and can certainly hear our speech, I still have a gut feeling that he has hearing differences. Just not sure what those are yet.
Tian has figured out how each person communicates in our family. He is doing the same thing all the other kids did when they were little. He will look at Ken and start moving his hands to mimic our signs. While doing this, he will silently move his mouth. I need to get it on video.
Tian is probably has about 30 signs. I should make a list this week. He makes many of those signs with the "f" or "1" handshapes since he doesn't have fine motor skills to do much else. We present language to him visually because we know beyond doubt that he can receive it. We don't have to worry about what he can or can't hear. He understands the majority of what we say/sign to him. He also mimics many spoken words and almost any sound we make.
This week, we had a couple of Chinese friends come over to visit. This was the boys' first time to be in such close contact with Chinese people. At first, Tian gripped on to me, but he quickly warmed up and even went to them, letting them hold him and sitting on their laps.
He still seemed to understand a lot of the Mandarin they spoke to him, but he wouldn't mimic the Mandrin words like he mimics English. Not sure why that is. We were so happy to have these new friends visit and hope to continue our friendship. We love the idea of the boys being around other Chinese people. We live in a community full of Asians, but mostly Korean, not Chinese.
Tian is sleeping all night. We can even leave him in the crib when he's still awake and he will go to sleep happy. He loves that TJ is in there with him. Last week, TJ sneaked Tian out of the crib and into his bed and read to him for a while before returning Tian to the crib. This thrills my heart. TJ had been hurt in the past because Tian lets the girls hold him, change him, and "mother" him. He doesn't let TJ do the same. So this evening ritual they have is special for them both. I love the bonds Tian is developing with each of his siblings.
What joy Tian is bringing to our family! Seven weeks. Can that really be all? Can't imagine our family without him!
Tian likes to hug, kiss, blow kisses, wrestle, tumble, and do lots of things that 2 year-olds like to do. He's silly and loves to laugh. He'll make faces or silly sounds if he thinks it will make us laugh at him. (Much like his older brother!) He has an ornery streak and daily tests me on the rules. He's very sly, clever and understated when he's being mischievous.
He says quite a few words:
mama, baba, milk (mow), Hannah (anna), potty (pah-e), no no, TJ (ee-ay), Mackenzie (enzie), there he is (dah-e-is), bed, night-night (nie-nie) etc. He will mimic just about any sound we make, but doesn't speak much to communicate. He mostly uses one-word signs for that. While we have no doubt that he can hear and can certainly hear our speech, I still have a gut feeling that he has hearing differences. Just not sure what those are yet.
Tian has figured out how each person communicates in our family. He is doing the same thing all the other kids did when they were little. He will look at Ken and start moving his hands to mimic our signs. While doing this, he will silently move his mouth. I need to get it on video.
Tian is probably has about 30 signs. I should make a list this week. He makes many of those signs with the "f" or "1" handshapes since he doesn't have fine motor skills to do much else. We present language to him visually because we know beyond doubt that he can receive it. We don't have to worry about what he can or can't hear. He understands the majority of what we say/sign to him. He also mimics many spoken words and almost any sound we make.
This week, we had a couple of Chinese friends come over to visit. This was the boys' first time to be in such close contact with Chinese people. At first, Tian gripped on to me, but he quickly warmed up and even went to them, letting them hold him and sitting on their laps.
He still seemed to understand a lot of the Mandarin they spoke to him, but he wouldn't mimic the Mandrin words like he mimics English. Not sure why that is. We were so happy to have these new friends visit and hope to continue our friendship. We love the idea of the boys being around other Chinese people. We live in a community full of Asians, but mostly Korean, not Chinese.
Tian is sleeping all night. We can even leave him in the crib when he's still awake and he will go to sleep happy. He loves that TJ is in there with him. Last week, TJ sneaked Tian out of the crib and into his bed and read to him for a while before returning Tian to the crib. This thrills my heart. TJ had been hurt in the past because Tian lets the girls hold him, change him, and "mother" him. He doesn't let TJ do the same. So this evening ritual they have is special for them both. I love the bonds Tian is developing with each of his siblings.
What joy Tian is bringing to our family! Seven weeks. Can that really be all? Can't imagine our family without him!
What a precious boy!
ReplyDelete~chris
So awesome. For some reason I kept thinking he was older ... he's just a tiny bit older than Tate. Maybe we should do a little park playdate with them. Do you think he'd like that interaction with someone so similar in age?
ReplyDelete