The word "oval"

Luc enjoys watching the video series Sparkabilities and a few weeks back we got the latest episode which included a segment about shapes. Luc already knew some basic shapes (square, circle, triangle) but now he was introduced to rectangle, star and oval. For some reason, "oval" made a big impression on him and now it has become his favorite word. He points at everything and anything and says "oval" and then looks to us to see if he got it right. In the beginning we tried to be accurate and if he was pointing at, for example, a tree and said oval we would correct him. But over time he wore us out and now if he points at a tree and says oval we just smile and say "yes, oval" and move on. Probably not great parenting but he seems to enjoy the satisfaction of having found another oval. But really I think he just likes saying the word oval more than anything else. And the way he says it is kind of funny. He emphasizes the second syllable and slightly mispronounces it so it sounds like "oh, FULL" which is kind of amusing.

Another "Lucism" is his love for holding onto utensils. He can walk around, literally, for hours holding onto a plastic spoon or fork. And forget about trying to pull it away from him, you'll regret it. So sometimes in the morning if grabs a hold of one just before we head out the door for the day care I will let him bring it along. Likewise if we pick him up in the afternoon and he has one of the daycare's spoons (or other toys) he is allowed to bring it home and then we return it the next day. As a consequence the line between our toys and their toys has blurred somewhat. But what hasn't blurred is Luc's focus on which are his favorite toys or utensils. For example, this morning I brought him into the daycare and normally he reaches up to Meghan immediately so she will pick him up. But this morning he scooted by her and ran full speed to the other side of the room and reached down to pick up a long wooden spoon. He turned around and looked back at us with the biggest grin, then waved the spoon in the air and said "Oval!" We just smiled back.

Last month we brought Luc in for his 18 month check up and shots. During these check ups they always measure him 3 ways: weight, length, and head size. Then they compare his growth to his previous visits and also to national averages. As you may recall Luc was born big (9.5 lbs) and as a consequence was in the highest percentiles for all 3 categories. But as time went on his size "normalized" and so from his 6 month check up on he has been about average size.... except for one area: head size. His head size is, and has been, in the 95th percentile! We are hoping this is because his brain is so big because he is so smart-- I think Einstein's head was over-sized too :)

Anyway, that's it for today. Next time I will have photos, I promise. We have been busy redoing the downstairs of our house so I will have photos of that and Luc (and his giant head) at my next posting :)