Making some progress...

I can now get one picture taken at a time. Yeah!

And Malachi is definitely talking now! :) And talking ALL THE TIME! It is so wonderful to finally hear his voice saying words, communicating his wants and needs. He came to the kitchen the other night, grabbed a juice cup and said, "More please." Music to my ears. I didn't have to ask him if he wanted a drink. He told me!

He is mimicking what Kevin and I say, which is so cute, and his vocabulary seems to be growing exponentially. Some new words (or words that have gotten clearer recently):

Please

Thank you (Even unprompted from time to time!)

Car ("tar")

Truck ("tuck")

Tow truck

Kitty cat

Daddy and Dad

Mama (He has said Daddy and Mama in the past, but he says them with much more intentionality-to get our attention or "ask" us a question-and correctly-I'm Mama and Kevin is Daddy and not vice versa.)

Duck (He LOVES his ducks at the lake.)

Dog

Puppy

Go (We hear this ALL THE TIME!)

Stop ("top")

He is also doing really well at picture identification. We have a bunch of books with just one picture per page. You can ask him questions such as, "Which one goes in the water?" and he'll correctly point to a boat. So exciting!

OK, enough bragging. Sorry. I just had to share.

Fourth of July

Still catching up on my lack of blogging...Fourth of July was fun. Our neighbor hosts quite the celebration for the kids. A bike parade, complete with a banner, starts off the festivities, followed by the star spangled banner and the Pledge of Allegiance. Next up? Old-fashioned games: three-legged races, sack races. The finale? A massive water balloon fight, a watermelon seed spitting contest, and ice cream sandwiches. Does it get any more American than this?
Doesn't my little guy look so grown up with his new haircut?

With Grandma and Grandpa. A quick visit on their way back from Florida for a Taylor family reunion (which we sadly had to miss).