"Answered": put up to his ear, looking around with his eyes just like a busy executive, and saying, "Awoh!"
At thirteen and a half months, Nathan is at that point in his babyness where social development comes fast and furious. No doubt many of the things he says and does right now are fleeting, so I thought I'd try and chronicle a few of them, and note early hints at his personality....
Words
In rough order of appearance: Dada, woof woof (uff uff), agua (yes, "agua"), Mama, balloon (baoom!), blue (he has since forgotten this word), boat, lion, Elmo, (ba)nana, dog (daw!), more, ball, bubbles, flower, hello (awoh), bye bye
Tendencies
Nate likes to make friends and likes to smile and make other people smile. Very sociable, he prefers to be out and about to staying home.
His favorite toys are geometrics: balls and solid-color blocks that fit into things.
He is a sharer. Walk into his room in the morning or after a nap, and the first thing he does is hand you his stuffed animals, then grin. Say "Nathan, can I have that?" and he'll almost always hand you whatever he's holding. He also puts things in my mouth, although I'm not sure if that's to share or to be funny.
Nathan is extremely curious and loves investigating things. He'll stare at something for a good long while, fondles new things for extended periods, and he's always wide-eyed, absorbing the world around him.
Nate's also big on holding things, and is happiest when his hands are full, with toys or food or whatever he finds. He often tries to crawl with an item in each hand--which has varying degrees of success when he's carrying a hard plastic ball and a toy screwdriver.
He's a dog lover, pointing them out on the street and having fun with our own dog at home. He's even tried playing fetch with Charley on occasion.
Neat freak Nate picks up tiny specks of dirt or lint and hands them to us. He also likes to take things out of their resting location, then put them back, exactly how they're supposed to fit.
He's as stubborn as his parents. For a week or two he tried crying when he didn't get what he wanted. Now he's just back to rejecting things. When he doesn't want something, he pushes it away; if he's holding it, he throws is behind him, usually to the left.
Goofy things he likes to do
Bounce up and forward from a kneeling position, landing on his hands, like a frog.
Dive face-first into the pillows on our bed.
Play peek-a-boo around the living room ottomans, his crib, or anything where he can temporarily lose sight of someone.
Drink from his water bottle while on all fours.
Hide stuff. Nathan pushes anything that will fit under anything else that will fit it: toys beneath the couch, coasters under the ottomans, wood blocks inside the gliding chair. We once found a letter "a" under our oven.
Lay down, head to the floor, butt in the air, to look for what he's hidden.
Lay down flat on the floor, sprawled out, in what we think is an imitation of Charley.
Squint and grin at someone in order to get a smile back.
Bounce. Anywhere, anytime, anyhow.
Look at himself in the mirror.
Answer the phone, "phone" being anything that looks like a phone, which he holds up to his ear and says "awoh." He even does it without a phone in hand if he's mimicking someone else.
Push buttons. Remote controls, iPods, phones, the printer, anything.
Snuggle. Hand Nate a plush toy and he'll hug it; hand him one he recognizes, and he puts his face against the toy's face, like he's giving it a kiss. He's a mush.
