Adventures in Baby-ing: Smart Little Cookie

Over the past two months, I have learned exactly how smart a one year old can be. Every single day, Camp does something new to amaze (or at least amuse) me.

Today (at age 14 months), he grabbed a pair of socks out his drawer and took them to the kitchen to play. He unrolled them and continued playing with the two socks. After his milk and breakfast, I was trying to pick up a little and could only find one sock. I looked for a while for the missing sock. Finally, I asked Camp, "Where is the other sock?" He went straight over to the oven and started reaching under it. Sure enough, right where his little hand was reaching and totally out of sight, there was the missing sock!

In the last few days, Camp has been going into his room and lying down on his changing pad (it's on the floor because he likes to flail around during diaper changes). I proceed to change him, and sure enough, he's ready for a new diaper! When he was playing in the den yesterday, Jonathan told him he was going to change his diaper. Camp stopped what he was doing, walked back to his "Campground," and lay down on the changing pad. If only it was always that easy. The kid usually despises a fresh diaper.

When we have a particularly dirty diaper, we always bag it up and take it out to the dumpster in the garage. The last few times, Jonathan or I told Camp we needed to take the dirty diaper to the trash, and Camp walked from his room to the laundry room garage door and attempted to turn the knob to go out. From watching us do it so many times, he has even figured out that he needs to turn the lock to unlock the door!

Camp has also learned how to open all the bedroom/bathroom/closet doors. He can sign for "more" and "all done." He says, "Tickle,tickle,tickle," or at least that's what I have decided his is saying. He can go up and down stairs pretty quickly. He likes to help clean up with the broom and rake. He knows that debris goes in the dustpan and pine needles go in the yard bags (both of which he figured out on his own just by observing). In just a few times of showing him how to blow a kiss, Camp has mastered kissing his open hand, and we are working on blowing the kiss to someone. He can show you his head, his toes, and one time his tummy. He has grabbed my nose when I asked him to show us mommy's nose. The list goes on.