Thursday, April 07, 2005

X Man Update


The X Man is growing up so fast. I continue to be amazed at how quickly he picks up on things. He's about 15 months now and starting to ape everything I do. Here are some of the things he's picked up in the past month:

We're at the stage now where everytime I come home from work, he goes absolutely bat nuts. He screams and runs at me like a madman. Then all he wants to do is chase me around the house and play with me. This is such a great stage.

Every time he sees my cell phone on the table, he picks it up and puts it to his ear. And if we're sitting around and I say "Pronto!" (that's how Italians answer the phone), he'll go find the phone and put it to his ear.

Virginia is constantly teaching him new words and he's almost able to say a lot of them. He says 'dada' all the time, especially when I get home from work. He also knows how to say 'caca'. When he's thirsty he points to the water and says 'wa-wa'. Another of his words, 'na-na', has two meanings; he says it for 'banana' when he's hungry and 'ni-night' when it's bedtime. If we ask him if he wants to go bye-bye, he'll grab his shoes and say "soo...soo". Virginia has been teaching him the parts of the face such as eyes, nose, ears, etc. So last night, I walk in the door and he runs into my arms, puts his finger on my nose and yells "NO...NO...NO!". Just amazed me. His new favorite thing seems to be flowers (not a good sign I know...). Everytime he sees them he says 'fah-wah' and tries to smell them.

He loves to go outside for walks and riding in the car. When I take him downstairs, he walk up to the car and try to open the door. When we don't get in the car right away, he goes and grabs his stroller and drags it outside.

Another new thing is kisses. When we used to say "kiss", he would open his mouth wide and put it on you, which was kinda gross. But now he's figured out how to do a real kiss and he kisses everything in sight - me, Virginia, his toys, his stuffed animals, everything.

Perhaps the cutest thing he does is something he started almost two months ago. In Italy, a popular way to say hello or goodbye is to put your hand up in the air with your palm facing you and open and close your fist while saying "ciao"! He actually does it all the time, except his 'ciao' comes out as 'dow'. We'll be walking around somewhere and he'll just start doing it to every person that walks by. And let me tell you, the Italians just eat it up like candy. A lot of times, we just have to sit and wait for him because he'll be engaged in a 'conversation' with an Italian. They can't get enough of the X Man.

He's also learning other useful stuff, like how to listen to mama. He does almost everything Virginia tells him to. We'll be in separate rooms and I'll hear her tell him "go give it to papa". Next thing I know, here comes the X Man giving me something. And if something is too hot, she'll tell him "be careful..hot...hot" and he'll stay away from it. Or if it's food, he'll touch it carefully to see how hot it is. Sometimes she'll give him some trash and say 'go put it in the trash', and sure enough, he'll go throw it away.

I just can't believe how fast my little man is growing up. What astounds me is how you never see it coming. He'll do something out of the blue and I'll just be sitting there thinking, "When did he learn that?!". On the negative side, he still drools a lot. Anyone who has been out drinking with me knows that he gets this from me...

Rik

8 comments:

Ed said...

I know that this has been used several times on this blog lately but I just can't resist. You said, "His new favorite thing seems to be flowers (not a good sign I know...)."

Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

Rik said...

Ed - Ha ha..touche!

Rik

Rik said...

DL - You're absolutely right! In fact, if there's more than 3 seconds of silence in the house, one of us always yells "Xavier, what are you doing?!"

Rik

Laurie said...

Hello Thibodeau without the X! I'm just getting around to checking out your blog. It's great and the baby is beautiful! I'll be back to read more.

Rik said...

Bienvenie Laurie! I usually check yours daily as well...in fact, I'll probably link to it with your permission...

Rik

Anonymous said...

someone hand Rik a diaper, he's drooling.

Virginia, congrats. Should you guys come over before we leave, be sure to bring the X-man. Am so tempted to bite his cheeks :P gigil

Anonymous said...

2 words..handsome kid..

Anonymous said...

I was entertained by this entry, I see in Chloe most things you described about Xavier but my ''bambolina'' is such a pain in the royal ass. She destroys the house when she's happy! She mimics whatever she sees and talks gibberish! The very first part of the body she learned is 'bellybutton' then followed by the nose,mouth,eyes and ears! She also picks up the phone and pretend to be talking to someone. I noticed one of her favourites is books; she intently gazed at pages and at times she even tries to point words and utter sounds as if she was reading. I think it's something she learned at the nursery. The X-man looks cute and is he is a fast learner!
Ara