More firsts (contributed by mama)

Hello to all of Devin's readers.

Today I heard Devin say his first word! It was "nai" which means "milk" in Chinese. Can you believe it? His first word was in Chinese, and I barely can distinguish my head from my butt in Chinese. It turns out that his babysitter, Mrs. Tran, has been teaching that to him. Part of me feels a tad bit disappointed that I -- his very own MOTHER -- didn't manage to teach him how to ask for the one thing that tames the savage beast in him. Well, I did say I was just a "tad" disappointed. The rest of me is just so delighted that he's got a vocabulary word for such an important request -- and that maybe now he can start asking for nai instead of thrashing about and trying to claw my eyes out.

Next I need to teach him how to say, "Mama it really itches right here behind my ears, my eczyma is starting to bother me in my elbows, particularly on my left arm, and I think that cream works but the bath soak does not..." At that point, my life will be so much easier, but he's gotta say it in English because I would need a translator otherwise.

So I think it's kind of cool that he understands some Korean -- particulary, "manseh," which of COURSE is a useful word to know because it means "goal" or more like, "gooooooaaaaal!" (His grandparents are red tees sportin' fans of Korea's soccer team.) But actually the word is more useful than I ever thought. When it's time for Devin's bath and I'm trying to undress him, a loud "manseehhhh" not only echos well in the bathroom, but usually elicits very rigorous arm-raising, at which point I whisk his shirt off over his head.

Speaking of baths, Devin does seem to understand that word in English. When he hears it, he sometimes will even drop the rug corner that he's been chewing on to crawl full speed into the bathroom. He pulls himself up at the edge of the tub, and begins systematically flinging his bath toys into the tub. Next, he will get up on all ten toes, and try to hoist his little leg over the edge, even when he's still fully clothed or when the tub is dry. In some ways, "bath" is the equivalent four letter word to "walk" which elicits a similar spastic response from Lucy at the front door.

AND, this evening as I was getting ready to take Lucy and Devin for a "w... a... l... k..." I patted the stroller seat and called to Devin, and he climbed into his stroller by himself! The kid is acrobatic. He can barely walk but he's pulling himself up and able to shift his weight to get that knee up over shoulder height. I was watching this, thinking that proportionally, this was equivalent to me climbing on top of a mini-van without the advantage of a running start. Isn't it?

Today was a lot of firsts. Seems like the past weeks (maybe even the past month) I hadn't noticed many new activities, and then Devin was sick for a bit. Well, he's fought off that virus now, and perhaps he's just catching up, I suppose, on all the things he probably wanted to accomplish. Funny and so amazing how quickly this all came at once. I love him so much even when he's not doing much -- like the times when he just sits on the floor and grunts while staring at the ceiling (go figure) -- but when he displays all these new activities, i am reminded that he is learning and soaking up the world around him, and I am so excited to see what comes next.

"definitely more mischief!"