new words and fried potatoes

He doesn’t know how to say Hannukah yet, but lately he’s picked up a few more words.

Animal sounds:

He was facing off with the cat the other morning — each on either side of the childproof gate in the living room. The cat meowed. And Jonah meowed back. And continued to meow at the cat, and all images of cats, all morning.

Today he said “oo oo oo” to his stuffed monkeys. I told Scott about it tonight who reported that just yesterday he had been playing with the monkeys with Jonah, and demonstrating the sound. So, Jonah listened, learned, and then applied the information the next day. We’re impressed.

He also said “Rawr” to a number of his lions (wooden puzzle piece, picture of, stuffed tiny).

He’s learned “Sheep,” but he’s calling a lot of farm animals “Cow” lately; he sometimes seems to know “Pig;” he says “Quack” at pictures and stuffies of ducks.

In other words:

He has a word that might be “Down,” but I’m not quite sure yet.

He says Pear, and Apple. Butterfly is more distinct than it used to be. Before it was an imitative “Butt” — now it’s “Bu-u-a-iii” with pointing.

He says “Hot” but I think it means many things to him. He seemed to learn it from the couple of times recently that I was just learning that he wanted to eat food off my plate and it wasn’t quite cool enough for him and I’d see his little face turn from joy to horror and I’d say “Hot!” and pull the food out of his open mouth. So now, sometimes, when he’s eating something he doesn’t like or he needs me to remove the chewy remnants of, he says “Hot.”

But then, today, when the sun was hitting his face in the stroller, he also said, “Hot.”

He says “Sky.” and “Star.” Sometimes when he sees a moon picture or stuffie or whatever, he says “Sky” because so many of his books talk about the “moon in the sky.”

He now calls the cat “Bo!” which I believe is his way of saying “Bambino.”

He seems to know “Green” and “Blue” though it might still be imitation at this point. He’s imitating words and sounds and watching people’s mouths very carefully.

He says n-words that approximate “nose” and points to the right appendage (in our family, noses are definitely appendages).

He started saying “Bye Bye” on Sunday, imitating cousin Geri as she was saying goodbye to him at the Hannukah party.

Yes, after skipping last year, due to the birth of my son only a few days before the start of the holiday, we decided to go forth and fry latkes for 40 people. But not without tremendous help from the nanny, and my dear friend Jenny who has fried with us in years past and outdid herself this year with her dual fry pans technique and protective rain boots in a fetching lime green.

This post contains the recipe. It rocks. Definitely good to cook in rubber boots and cover nearby surfaces with aluminum foil because the starchy potato liquid gets everywhere.

And can I just say, the boy is doing his version of waving bye, and it kills me? Melts my heart. His little hand clutching open shut open shut, fingers curled.