Naughty or Nice? 15 observations about Erich

Time sure goes so fast when you are having fun. I am continually amazed at the rate by which infants and toddlers learn. The following is a sampling of observations I have made of Erich in the past two months - in no particular order:

• He now has a spoken vocabulary of about a dozen words, and can readily understand simple sentences in English, German and Cantonese.
• Among some of the more amusing facts - he has learned the art of scolding himself. More accurately, he has learned that the phrase "yie yie" (Cantonese for naughty) inevitably follows when he does something naughty. So now when he throws food on the floor, for instance, he proceeds to wag his finger and say "yie yie". This not knowing of course that he's the one who is supposed to be scolded not the one doing the scolding!
• Hans has been very impressed at the amount of German he has been able to understand. The other day, he dropped his juice sippy cup on the ground, and Hans asked him, in German, to go over there, pick up the sippy cup and bring it back to Grandpa. Erich proceeded to do it without hesitation. Another time, Hans asked him to go around the slide instead of trying to climb up the slide backwards, and he again understood what he was saying and obeyed.
• In English, he is able to regularly utter these words: "uh oh", "up", "down", "hi!", "hi daddy!", "ummm", "mum", "that", "bath time", "apple", and "done".
• He has been able to switch on and off lights.
• Much to our chagrin, he climbs just about anything and everything including the sofa, baby gates, his new shape sorter, desks, and chairs. (Obviously, some things are more suitable and appropriate than others.) Luckily for us, most of the time, Erich also knows how to climb back down from things. Occasionally, however, he'll fall and hurt himself.
• He is also able to point to something and request it by saying "that".
• He knows and loves to give mommy and daddy big hugs.
• He is able to retrieve things when asked - for instance, if I say to him "Erich, why don't you play with your new shape sorter", he'll proceed to find it on the shelf, take it off the shelf, and play with it. Then, if I were to say later "Erich, can you please put the shape sorter back on the shelf?", he would take the sorter and place it back on the shelf.

• Similarly, he is able to pick out most books by name. His favorite (green eggs and ham) is always a favorite.

• He's started to learn how to use duplo/lego. I brought out my old duplo set for him to use, and with just a little help, he managed to build a tower.
• He's also great at cleanup. The other day, mommy asked him to help cleanup some of his toys, and he managed to put things back in their respective places. This translates to service at church too - on Sundays he often helps out the A/V guys put away microphone cords!
• He's done well with associating things to sounds. When he plays with his toy trucks or cars, he makes a very appropriate "vroom, vroom" sound with his lips. The other day, he saw a car commercial on TV. He proceeded to point at it and said "vroom, vroom"! (No wonder those Mazda commercials are so effective!)
• Unfortunately, he's also learned the associations between a remote and a TV, and the mouse/keyboard and the computer. Sometimes, though, he gets it mixed up: The other day when grandma gave him a harmonica to try, he thought it was a remote and immediately pointed it at the TV and started pressing imaginary buttons. Well, at least you could say he picks up on UI metaphors quickly!
• He loves to dance. I recently bought Karen a Michael Buble album for Valentines. Every time that album plays, Erich dances to the music.