Comprendez-vous?

Sorry for the Debbie-Downer post yesterday. Those of you with kids (especially toddlers) know how one or two bad days can make you feel like you've been battling the same problem for years. In addition, I'm so afraid of ending up on Nanny 911 one day that when I see the slightest problem I worry that we're too far gone down the wrong path already. Having said all that, please keep the helpful emails and suggestions coming! (I'm always open to a new form of interaction/discipline.)

So one of my new favorite things, which is also one of Lehr's favorite things, is Eli's comprehension of seemingly unknown words. (Sidenote: I posted the other day about Eli's spoken vocabulary and how it appears to be so much less than his (female) friends' vocabs. Let me assure you that I am not concerned as of yet. He still signs like a fiend and I know boys are usually slower to develop vocally.) Almost every day for a while now Eli will shock me by showing an understanding of a word or a phrase that we've never formally taught him.

Example: Yesterday Eli bent down to look under the couch, as he often does, to see if any toys had made a new home there. Of course they had, so he proceeded to lay down and 'talk' to me about them.
"Eli, are there toys under the couch?"
"Yeee-ah! Phermonifps eslo!"
"Really? Can you reach them?"
The key word there was 'reach'....I don't think I've ever used that word with him, but immediately Eli stuck his hand under the couch and tried to grab the toys. I know most of the time when he and I have been in similar situations I've said 'grab' or 'touch' or 'get'. Maybe it was just a coincidence that he reached after I asked him to. Maybe he just deduced by the conversation that I was going to ask. Who knows. This is just one example of the constant sponge that he is. I guess toddler-hood isn't always so bad....

(Unrelated picture: Eli eating pizza on the boardwalk at Lehr's all-time favorite pizza place last weekend.)