Simon's first word

Well, it's official, Simon has a first word. It's "uh-oh"!

He started repeating it first, after we would say it. It came out like "uh uh." Then, the true test: he used it in context! There I was, at Whole Foods, Noah in the cart, Simon in the carrier, looking at the items on a shelf. Something dropped to the floor, and out of Simon's mouth came, "uh uh" with a smile! Now, most of the time when something drops, he says "uh-oh."

Last night, he was sleeping next to me, and had just finished nursing. He popped up and started saying, "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh." I thought, "oh no, not a good time to practice talking, 3 am in in the morning..." Then, he let out a big belch, quieted down, and fell right back to sleep.

He's cruising around these days, though crawling is still his chosen form of transportation. He gets quite upset when he goes to climb the stairs and we close the gate before he can start up, complaining that he really wanted to practice! Today I was holding him next to a ball, telling him to kick, racing him across the floor as if he were playing soccer. He finally started to bear a bit of weight as I did this, and put one foot in front of the other to simulate walking. At least I know the reflexes are in there! One thing I do know is that once he decides it's time to walk, he will just stand up and do it as if he has done it forever! He has a great sense of balance and of where his body is.