Communication Skills

Isaiah isn't talking a whole lot, which amazingly hasn't really bothered me.  He does say a few things, some in English and some in Russian.  Maybe my lack of concern is because of his apparent understanding of everything that is going on around him.  For instance, Thomas' Russian teacher can tell Isaiah to do something in Russian, and he will do it.  I can tell him to do something in English, and he will do it exactly right.

  

And then there's what he "tells" me.

   

For example, Isaiah is the only person in attendance at our church under the age of 10 every week.  We stand for a long time in the beginning, so I try to have Isaiah stay in his stroller as long as possible (he's getting pretty heavy!).  He can usually stay content in his stroller through about the first 1/4 of the sermon, then he really needs a change of scene, however slight.  On this particular Sunday, Isaiah did very well throughout the whole service, sitting between me and Aunt Luda.  As the choir sang their song at the end of the service before the pastor has final prayer and pronounces the benediction, Isaiah declared that he needed to be in my lap.  Then he decided that it was time to go.  How do I know this?  He reached over to his stroller where I had left my hat.  He very deliberately grabbed my hat and thrust it into my face, as if to say, "Come on, Mama!  I think it's time to go outside."

Another funny example of his comprehension of things:  While we were in Germany, my mom bought Isaiah a toy camera because he always wanted to hold one of our cameras if he saw them.  Now that we're home, Isaiah will go to his toy box, find his camera, crawl to me and give me the camera.  "Do you want me to take your picture?" I ask.  He nods "yes" very excitedly and says, "Uh huh".  He then proceeds to pose for the camera with really sweet smiles and turning his head from one side the other.  

I wish that I had a picture of these interactions somehow.  But, of course, that would be a little hard to obtain; one is in church and the other involves me holding a photo shoot with a toy camera.  And these are just small examples of how Isaiah very clearly communicates to his daddy and me.  He definitely knows what he wants and has no trouble telling us.  Usually he tells us fairly sweetly, too.