this little voice

Three weeks ago Henry and I went for a long evening walk together before bedtime.  It was a cool night as the clear blue sky quickly gave way to hues of grey.  We walked and talked, as I held his little hands to keep them warm.  

A little arm soon began to stretch upward towards the trees around us.   

Yes, those are trees, I explained.  

We kept walking, and the little arm stayed up.  

In the silence of my footsteps on the pavement I heard his sweet voice say, ball.

A tiny tear found it's way to my eyes as I smiled.  Yes Henry, ball!  A special ball we call the moon.  

He Kept his arm outstreched and even found a pointer finger to make sure I knew as he repeated ball, ball, ball.  I wanted to reach up in the sky and grab it for him, bouncing it all the way home. 

I watched him curiously look behind him in the sky as we rounded the corner to our street.  I began to softly sing, a song I hadn't thought of since he was a newborn,  I see the moon and the moon sees me.   The mind of a child.....

 This little brain surrounded by Henry cuteness is beginning to show us what he knows.  He has begun experimenting with language and at times can be quite a little parrot.  His first words of babble were dadadadada and then intentionally saying "duck" for a stuffed animal he has, mamamamama He didn't really know the meaning behind his words but was happy to let you hear his little voice.

Then came bye-bye to accompany the cute little wave he had.  (usually said after we shut the door or walk away)  Then came the rest: "hi dude", bubble, ball, and his favorite word of all time........."apple", hat, bottle, and they continue to grow.  The interesting thing about him learning new words has been that the adorable name calling babble of dada and mama left his vocabulary.  Daddy found it's way back into his repertoire of words rather quickly and he would say it when B was around or he would repeat it when he heard me say it.   

It became a funny little joke in our house to try and get him to say mamma or mommy because he just wouldn't say it.  Choosing to say "apple" most times instead.  My favorite was the day I showed him our book with family pictures in it and pointed to people and said their names and he would repeat "Pop" or would point to Daddy, Gran, Keightley.  When asked, "Where's Mommy?"  he paused, slammed the book shut, said "apple" and crawled away.  

Sounds made up right?  This kid knows what he is doing.....what a little trickster.  

April 8th Barry had him in the rocking chair getting ready for bed when I walked into the room. 

 His little arms stretched up as he looked at me and said "MaMa, Mama". 

Heart melting, puddle of lovey mush, excited me quickly scooped up and squeezed the sugar out of our little boy.  

It's been said once or twice since then but I anxiously await the day when I am to the brink of being annoyed by "Mama", Mama watch, Mama come here, Mama help.  Watching him learn and grow is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.