The things I get excited about!

I know this makes two posts in one day, but I had to mention Dom's tiny milestone. After dinner, he was still in his highchair and wanted to play with Play-Doh. Before I gave it to him, I decided to try one more time with the cotton balls. I put a couple on the tray and blew them around a bit, and Dom started laughing. I could see him trying to blow out (he was making sputtering sounds), so I blew a cotton ball off of my hand, then put another on my hand and held it up to him. He sputtered a bit more, then got some actual air and blew the cotton ball away. I cheered for him, hoping he'd try it again if I reacted enthusiastically enough. He laughed, and I could tell he was proud of himself, but that was it for tonight. But he did it once, which is something, so maybe he'll keep it up, and this will help strengthen his oral muscles and encourage more speech.

I forgot to mention how much more talkative Dominick was at playgroup yesterday. Usually, he's pretty quiet the whole time, rarely babbling, but yesterday, once he got comfortable around everyone else, Dom was fairly vocal. As we left, he saw the lawnmower in the garage, and when I said the word, he tried to repeat it. When he was in the yard with Mike this weekend, he did the same thing on seeing the neighbor cutting his grass. Some of the words Dom has chosen to imitate are interesting: higher, lawnmower, pineapple. Yet still there has been no "mama," apart from babbling. Actually, Dom's been using the M sound today, so maybe he's getting there.