Timmy at 11 months

I love the way babies communicate in the months before they learn how to talk.  We are always putting little thought bubbles over his head, and guessing the words that go with his sounds, expressions, and increasingly expressive gestures.  I find myself providing the 'voice of Timmy' all the time as he goes about his business, to the amusement of his sisters.  "No, Mama, I will not be giving you kisses at this time."  Crawls to the doorstop.  "I shall do something even better.  I shall play you a song."  (Because if Timmy could talk, he would of course say 'shall.':)

Timmy waves and points.  When he's excited about something, he flaps his arms and legs and shouts.  Every evening I say, "Timmy, bathtime!" and I sign "bath."  His eyes get big and he pumps his arms up and down rapidly in an approximation of the bath sign, before taking off after us to the bathroom.  "Yay, it's bathtime!  I LOVE bathtime!"  You can hear the slap-slap-slap of his hands on the tile has he crawls to the bathroom as fast as he can.

He still gets around most of the time by crawling, but he has begun to cruise too, most often around the kitchen table, grabbing onto the bench and chairs.  He forages for the food he and the girls drop during mealtimes.  He doesn't appreciate the food on his tray nearly as much as the tasty prizes he finds later on the floor -- even though they are usually exactly the same thing.

He is a busy boy.  Sometimes as we sit in the glider rocker to nurse, he'll squirm out of my arms.  I set him down on the floor and he crawls to the door and opens it.  Then, with one last little grin back at me, he's off to find his sisters.  Or the toilet.  Or the plantation blinds.

What?  I was just cleaning up for you.

Sometimes when we're playing on the floor, he gives me hugs and pats me on the back.  There's nothing better than the feel of those plump arms encircling my neck and his cheek against mine.  

He finally gave me a kiss a few days ago.  After his sister gave him a goodbye kiss for nap, he made a smacking sound afterward, like he was practicing.  I said, "Can Mama have a kiss?"  I was holding him on my hip.  He did not pucker up, but he obligingly offered me his face as he smiled with his eyes half-closed.  Ah.. I just want to bottle up all this sweetness and save it for when he turns, say, 10 or 12. 

He loves when we go to the pool, which is nearly every day.  He crawls around, splashes, and sometimes just lays on his belly kicking his legs in the 0 to 3 foot section.  Sometimes he "walks" himself around on his hands while the rest of his body floats.  He's figuring out his limit as far as how deep he can go, but sometimes he forgets.  I wonder if I were to leave him alone for a few seconds, would he start to dogpaddle his way around like a puppy?  I probably won't ever find out, because I can't stand to watch him sink even for a second.

I love watching his little mind at work.  He's so simple and uncomplicated at this stage.  He just needs food, sleep and love.  In return he fills our lives with so much happiness.

I will leave you with this video of Timmy and me singing a duet.  I had only intended to make him laugh by singing to him the way I had only moments before; but once I turned on the camera, he surprised me by singing back.  You have to listen all the way through, as painful as it is to hear me try to imitate Paul Robeson.  You can thank Tim for this.  When I'm reading bible stories to the kids at bedtime, he sings loudly and slowly in the background, "Let my people go..."  Now look what he's started!