What is MJ Saying These Days?

MJ is clearly relishing his ability to talk and communicate. He was a pretty good signer, which was a godsend when he wanted more of something or he wanted to go outside. Perhaps more importantly, Maki and I think sign language made MJ realize that he could communicate with us and this motivated him to sign and speak.

MJ signed: more, change, mama, dada, please (very popular), bath, music, eat, milk, thank you (very popular), bye bye.

Today, as MJ's verbal skills improve seemingly every day, he's abandoning signing and talking -- a lot.

He calls Grandpa Tak "pa"

He calls Grandma Linda and Grandma Josie "ma"

He calls CJ "ceej"

He calls Goring "yaya"

He knows how and when to use outside, upstairs and downstairs.

Interesting, he never asks for food. He just points at food and says "um." He will ask for "wa" (water).

He's starting to string together words to form simple sentences. CJ gets a little offended because MJ's sentences sound like orders. He likes to say "read books," "sit down" and "come back."

He just loves, loves trucks of all kinds. He likes to say fire truck, dump truck and digger.

He's starting to copy us when we say words slowly or read simple books.

My friends Alyson and Kathleen, who see him every few weeks, say that MJ's verbal skills seem to be increasing by leaps and bounds. I know that this is the age when communication skills really blossom and it's been so fun to watch and help MJ learn to communicate with us using language.

We Made It To St. Louis and Saw the Arch!

Many years ago, my mom bought "Wonders of the World: 100 Great Man-Made Treasures of Civilization." She bought copies for me and my brother and thus began a quest to see as many man-made wonders as possible.

Brother Alex went on two round-the-world trips and has seen nearly 70 wonders, including Potola Palace in Tibet and Machu Picchu in Peru. Mom retired from United and has seen 50 wonders. Me, I've seen a paltry 20 wonders and I consider myself well traveled!

The St. Louis Arch was the last US wonder that mom had not seen. So when I had the opportunity to do a sales presentation in St. Louis, I jumped at the chance. Alex was scheduled to come with as my Creative Director. Orbitz was good to us and I was able to get mom and CJ relatively inexpensive tickets. We just got lucky that CJ didn't have school on Friday because of a teacher workday.


So last Friday and Saturday, we got to visit the St. Louis Arch. It's big, really pretty, and really impressive. We saw it during the evening and during the morning. CJ, Alex and I took the little ride to the top of the Arch, but mom declined because of her claustrophobia and she was afraid the stairs.

We visited the museum, which had a terrific exhibit on the Lewis and Clark expedition. And we visited the museum store, of course!

We didn't get to try toasted ravioli, so maybe next time!