This week's new tricks

* Jonas is starting to "dance." He's not as good as Napoleon Dynamite yet, but he'll get there. He twists around in circles, sways to the music, and displays another "dance move" that looks something akin to running in place. It's so cute!

* He points and grunts to eyes, ears, nose, mouth and teeth. The teeth are especially exciting to him, for some reason. If you're not careful, he will will jam his fingers into your mouth in order to point to your teeth. Let me tell you--this can be quite an unpleasant shock if you're not expecting it. He can't say the words yet, but he recognizes them and identifies the body parts well.

* He's got two new (hand) signs: frog and down, as in "I'm done eating and I want to get the hell out of here! Let me down." His mastering of down is a vast improvement over what he used to do: he'd be eating just fine, and then all of a sudden, start fidgeting, turning himself all around, and whining a kind of insufferable whine. I've been encouraging him to "use his signs" more to communicate. Just so you know, I don't say, "use your signs, Jonas." Weird. I just ask him if he wants or means such and such, and I make the sign simultaneously. I hold off granting what he wants until he does the sign. I'd say more than half the time he'll produce it, but sometimes, he just won't do it. And that's ok, too. We'll get there. Watching him do frog is hilarious. It involves sticking out your tongue and he does this funny thing where he kind of bites his tongue. Words really can't do it justice.

* He recognizes home and "school" from the car. As soon as we get within 25 feet of the turn to daycare he starts jumping around in his car seat and making very enthusiastic grunting sounds. Same thing happens when we near our home.

* Monkey see, monkey do. Jonas is also starting to mimic us, which is hilarious, most of the time. On the other hand, I suppose the time is nearing when we are going to have to be more careful with our off-color remarks and occasional lewd gestures. :-)