Tons of new skills

Cooper has been learning to do things so quickly lately, it makes my head hurt. He's recently learned the meanings of dozens of words, so each thing he learns is multiplied by his new words and quickly becomes impressive. For instance, he knows how to "pet" things, so you can ask him to pet the dog, pet daddy's hairy toes, or pet his favorite stuffed animals.

He's also learning his body parts. He knows head, belly, nose, and feet and will point to them when asked. When pointing to his belly, he also bends over to look at it, which is very charming. We are currently working on some other basics such as toes, knees, eyes, and ears. These seem to be a little bit harder, probably because they are not talked about as often. He also knows the meaning of shoes and socks, and will get his shoes (if he is in the right mood, and can quickly find them) if you ask him to get them.

Cooper has also determined a few ways to quickly get what he wants. Attempting to crawl into the stroller has become his way of requesting to go for a walk. Getting into his high chair is immediately met with a snack. Standing under the sink while pointing to the faucet gets him water. And standing by the back door while pounding on it does in fact lead to him being let out to play in the yard.

Unfortunately, very little of this has had any meaningful effect on his spoken language. He articulates the same number of words (about 5) as he did at 10 months old. It is clear he is understanding an amazing amount, and he makes a wide range of funny and charming imaginary words when you ask him to say something, but his ability to actually say anything isn't improving much. I'm not quite concerned yet, but it is something we've started to think about.

With that said, he occasionally does surprise me. Matt has been trying to teach him the names of his farm animal toys (horse, chicken, goat, etc) and yesterday, I asked him what this animal's (the goat) name is. Instead of the usual response (doggie!), Cooper clearly said "dote," a word I've never heard him say before, and one that is an obvious try at goat. And then he's never said "dote" since, despite my multiple tries to get him to say it again. But it makes me wonder- how much could he say if he wanted to? Does he just not feel like he needs to? It isn't clear.