Caveman Communication 101

I've heard many times that boys speak more slowly than girls. So I'm trying not to get impatient. I was spoiled with Mia, I know this now. By the time Anya and Bree were born she was weighing in on which grocery store she preferred to patronize that afternoon.
So here's Kael. 18 months. Two months younger than Mia was when she recognized the entire alphabet. He will repeat "Da" if I ask him to, and if he's in the mood. He used to do "Ma," but flat out ignores my requests for that one now. And he says something like "yes" at appropriate times. And that's it.
This morning he wanted more water, so he screeched and pointed at the water dispenser in the fridge. I held the cup in front of him and told him to say "more." His face lit up, he made a punching motion, and grunted "Uh!" to emphasize it. He was so proud of himself for communicating appropriately. Did the kids teach him that??
Today he was sick, so maybe that's why I noticed, but MAN he is getting frustrated! Every time I turned around he was making a mess or hitting someone. I kept putting him in time out (basically all I can do is set him outside the room and then he comes back in wailing. He doesn't really get it.) He points and wails and motions and screams all day long... I can't imagine how claustrophobic it must feel to be stuck in that little body that can't do anything, but can want to do everything.
(I never got around to posting this back in the whirlwhind of moves last summer- this was in our second apartment)


I know I just need to be patient. Soon his mouth will be running as fast as his legs are now. Meanwhile I have to decide whether or not to respond to his caveman-ese with "Ooh ooh aah aah!" or "Try again- say "moooooore."
I'm leaning toward caveman.

Piggy bank

Yesterday as I was changing Kael he started teasing me with a quarter he had found. He doesn't usually put stuff in his mouth anymore, but he DOES like to get a rise out of me, so he was pretending he was going to put it in and laughing. I told him to knock it off and hurried and finished wiping him so I could make him hand it over. By the time I was done wiping he was making a gagging noise. I flipped him over and smacked his back, and *gulp!* down it went.
I ran downstairs and woke Zach up. He couldn't think of anyone to call, so he just took him down to the hospital. Luckily a doc that knew him was in the hall when he arrived and they got an X-ray done quickly. The doctors informed each other, "We've got a piggy bank!"



And there it is.

We fed him a bunch of stew when he got home an hour later... bulk food. ;) I was so relieved he didn't have to stay at the hospital for long. And now the real fun begins.
.....
Well it wasn't as big a deal as I worried it would be. First dirty diaper and I saw the edge of the quarter right away. There's no way he would have noticed.

Whew.