Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Toys!

Up until now, any Ernie-related item that had a larger footprint than the Ernie himself was mostly a containment unit masked as a baby entertainment center (bouncer, bumbo, and the like). That was until Rob stopped by with an early Christmas present from him and Becky. This thing is meant to help Ernie conquer the whole downstairs, and to challenge the "parent-controlled speed adaptor" on the front wheels. Who knew how much fun it would be for a baby to pretend to be both postal customer and carrier in one? Little Tykes knew.

Here's Ernie sharing some love with Rob before the gift opening, just to prove that he's not totally materialistic.

And here he is with the amazing new toy! He loves to bang the plastic envelopes on every part of it, and especially to turn the turny thingy. It's so entertaining, you almost forget you have roughly 22 oz. worth of drool soaking through your shirt.

First We Endorse Them, Now We Can Pronounce Them!

Yesterday, Ernie uttered his first "Mmomm." It came several times yesterday, and a couple have escaped his mouth today already. "M"s are supposed to be more difficult than "D"s for kids, but he's about mastered them. It's also pretty clear that he understands what it means since he gets a big old grin when I say it when he can here her coming. So moms are back in, and fully pronounced. Not sure if "mommy" is too difficult or if we're just too big of a boy and too cool to cry "mommy" rather than simply utter "Mom"--we'll take it either way.

Ernie's Anti-Endorsement of the Week: Teething!

The first one that showed up on Thanksgiving wasn't so bad. We yelped on the car ride to the Grandparents' house, and then a little pink hole was visible where now there is a shiny white tooth. But it's mate is certainly more stubborn. He had us cranky all day and night yesterday. Luckily Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Denie distracted us on Sunday, and Grandma Chris and Grandpa Darrell on Saturday.
Mom and Dad hate hearing us cry out in pain. But for Christmas, we should have our two bottom teeth.

Ernie's Endorsement of the Week: Language!

We're getting it now. Noises attach themselves to stuff. We have successfully acknowleged Ally Cat as "kee kaa" when she enters the scene, and requested "baa baa" when we're thirsty. There's plenty of other noises Mom and Dad get excited about, like "hey" and "hida" (hi dad) but these are practiced more constantly and therefore we don't always associate them with a greeting or a person.
But it is official now. We can communicate in words.