I forget how quickly Che is growing until we visit friends who haven’t seen him in a while.  For Thanksgiving, we went to visit the Cleveland Croats, a group of Teo’s not-to-distant relatives.  The last time they say Che was over a year ago and they couldn’t get over how much he has grown. While we were there, they also commented on some of the words he would say.  I thought that now would be a good time to document some of Che’s first spoken words, along with translations if needed.  The vocabulary he understands is a lot bigger.

Mama
Tata (Croatian for Dad)
Deda (Croatian for Grandfather which he often confuses with Dada)
Che
Baka (Croatian for Grandmother, usually said while pointing at a photo of his Baka)
Glow
Nana = banana
Bock = book
Ba-lloon
Bubble
Ball
Bock = block
Molk = milk
Tuck = truck
Cookie
Crackah = cracker, apparently he’s a true Bostonian
Yes (very rare, he’s more likely to just nod his head)
No (all the time)
Mo’ = more
Squirrel (new today after feeding the really fat squirrel at Emil’s house)
Sock
Shoe
Ka-ket = Jacket or coat
Nose
Doggy
Duck
Wolf/Woof (We aren’t sure whether he knows the difference between a wolf and a dog, or if he is just making the dog sound, but the W book has a wolf in it and when he sees it he says “Wolf”.)
Bath
Wii (He’s already obsessed.  He likes to play tennis.  He can sometimes serve the ball and really likes to dance to the happy music at the beginning and end of the game.)

I know that he says more words than that, but I can never seem to remember them when I want to.  Every so often he throws out a perfectly pronounced word, like “squirrel” today, and then we don’t hear it again.  He said “diaper” once when I was changing his diaper in Croatia.  However, he doesn’t like diapers that much, and likes having them changed even less, so he hasn’t said it again.  I think he just likes to remind me that he really does know what’s going on by throwing out the odd word here and there.  I’m sure he’ll be saying complete sentences in no time at all.  Until then, I’ll try to pretend he is still my baby.

Che adored his two balloons that his father bought for him.  In fact he was so obsessed with them that he would barely let go of them long enough for me to change his clothes.  Need proof?  Yeah, I thought so.  Well here it is.

Drinking milk from a cup while holding two balloons takes skill!

In addition to the two ballons his father bought for him, Miss Leighia, Che’s teacher, gave him a bear and a balloon on his last day of school.  It turned out to be a very good thing that he had three balloons for his long journey.  He had worn the ribbons enough on the first two that the wind stole them.  Ironically, the Patriots ballon was snatched on the upper west side of Manhattan.  I had to laugh as I saw the balloon float past all those apartment windows.  At least it wasn’t a Red Sox balloon.  And fortunately, I don’t think anyone saw the source of the rival team’s balloon.  His second balloon was stolen by the wind in a small town of Pennsylvania.  So he arrived at his new home with just one balloon, which is probably a good thing.  He didn’t quite know what to do with three anyway, since he only has two hands.

The whole family is adjusting to the new life and the new home.  It is going to take time, mostly because we were all so attached to our friends and life back in Boston.  Today, Che and I looked at photos of his old school and our Boston home.  He smiled as he looked at the photos and even clapped when he first saw a picture of Miss Leighia.  His new school has a tough act to follow, but I’m sure with time he will grow to love them too.

Week-old Balloons

Hristo…this post is for you.

Che has a new obsession.  Balloons.  Or, as Che says “ba looons”Last Saturday we went to Trader Joe’s and he got a free balloon.  Then we went to BJ’s and they gave him another, even though he already had one.  All he could say for the next two days was “baalooooon!.”  We had to tie them to his high chair so he would eat.  He even wanted to take them to bed with him.  He wanted to take them everywhere…even after they had lost most of their helium and just dragged along the floor.  It was a struggle to get him to leave them in the car when he went into school each day.

Today, we took him to Stop ‘n Shop and bought him two balloons, one for each hand.

Last night, he had his first bubble bath.  The bubbles were almost as good as balloons.

A Bubble Beard

That red patch under his eye…we’ll lets just say he had a little incident while getting out of the sandbox at daycare yesterday.  He’s fine, but his feet must be growing again because he has become a complete clutz lately.