Everybody Clap Your Hands!!!

Lincoln has recently started to respond to things that I say. The first time was a two weeks ago or so. When I'm showering and he's awake, I'll put him in his walker so he can cruise around in the bathroom but not get into any trouble. On his walker, there are a bunch of little buttons that make all sorts of different animal or car noises. Since we have had that walker, I would tell him to push the buttons but he never would and then I'd show him how. A couple of weeks ago, I did the same, but this time he got his little pointer finger ready and pressed a button so hard that his arm shook. Then looked up at me with a little gleam in his eye and a smile on his face. What a little cutie. I thought it might just be a fluke, but I tried it again and again and he would do it. I was so excited, but of course he wouldn't repeat it for Matt when he came home that evening.

I've been trying my best to teach him to clap his hands a wave hello and goodbye. It's kind of boring to talk to an unresponsive child and I often wonder if what I do even matters, but a couple of days ago, he started to clap his hands when I'd ask him to. I was elated. It is so satisfying to know that the wheels in your kid's head are turning and that what you do really does make a difference. When Matt got home, I told him to ask Lincoln to clap his hands. Lincoln was ready to perform this time. Matt got a huge smile on his face and said, "WHAT??? When did he learn to do that?". "Today", I said. I'm looking forward to many more moments like this in the future.

Here's a bonus video. I've been trying to get this noise that Lincoln makes on video for months now but every time I pull the camera out, he gets too distracted and stops making the noise. This time I hid the camera under the table. You can't really see his mouth (which is the best part), but at least you can hear it. We get a kick out of him.