Cool things about Clark, part 25

Not even going to apologize for these kind of posts anymore. Totally justified.

Clark is the smartest,cutest (I'm not biased), wiggliest 10.5-month-old ever!


He talks non-stop, but says the following words in English, consistently: "please/dees" (it's often reduced to just "sss sss sss" but so much nicer than whining), "dad" (never mom), "bath", "dog", all the usual. He's also starting to repeat words we tell him to, but only when he feels like it.

When we read him this book, he always puts his finger in his mouth and pretends to brush his teeth when we get to this page:

The following page says "to exercise!", and every time as I'm turning to that page he shouts, "EXERCISE" in a high-pitched squeal--at least that's what he thinks he's saying. He also shouts "YES!" right before we get to the last page of "But Not the Hippopotamus".  Such an ending spoiler. (Thanks for these books, Brittany, they are  his FAVORITE.)

I hope I don't jinx this by sharing it, but I may have solved his napping drama. Even though he has been put down for a nap at the same times twice a day, every day for most of his life, he always acts like it's the most shocking and traumatic thing ever. Usually he'll protest for 5-10 minutes then fall asleep, but sometimes he really puts up a fight. Well, the other day he was being particularly stubborn, so I decided I'd turn on the obnoxious music that plays on his monitor just to see what he'd do. I kid you not, he stopped crying, lay down, and went right to sleep! It's been working ever since, so fingers crossed the magic doesn't wear off.

He's "over" baby food, but will eat a grilled chipotle lime chicken breast any time (and any other normal person food). My baby who would once eat anything is now very particular about what he eats and how (i.e. "I won't take one more bite of dinner until I get..." a drink of water/some Cheerios/whatever palette-cleanser his heart is set on).

And not-so-cool: we've got a climber. He'll use anything as a step stool to get up onto the couch, and climbs on any toy bin, cardboard box, or other surface within reach. I'm so scared!