Epiphany...

I have been wanting to write this post for a couple weeks now and keep finding ways to put it off. Well Grey is sleeping and Brock is at school studying, so I had better use my time wisely. :)
About two weeks ago a light bulb turned on in my head - Grey understands everything I am saying to him! Well almost everything, but that goes for everyone. :)
I realized this when Grey brought me a book. The same one I have mentioned in a previous post, "Doggies." It is multiple variations of dog barks. That's it. Nothing else. Ahhhhh! If you recall in that same post I wondered what would happen if I refused to read the same book for the gagillionth time. Well I tried it. We were sitting in the living room and he handed me the book, saying "Eh, eh, eh!" I told him, "Mommy doesn't want to read that book AGAIN. Go into your room and find a different book and I'll read it to you." (My mom thought this was a really mean experiment, borderline child abuse. She literally scolded me, her 25-year-old daughter saying, "You read that boy any book he wants and it doesn't matter how many times!" Sorry mom.)I thought this refusal would be met with a serious tantrum, but he looked at me quizzically for a minute, set the book down and disappeared. Me: "hmm, that's weird." Soon enough he returned from his bedroom with a completely different book, once again, holding it out saying his usual, "eh, eh, eh!" "He understood what I said?"
I was really blown away. I know this may sound silly to most of you mother veterans, but I think this epiphany is a lot like some other milestones in our lives. Such as, realizing that our parents aren't perfect beings, sent here from some alternate planet only to be our parents and had no life before us. Sorry parents.
Before that little experience with Grey I didn't give the poor guy any credit, thinking he wasn't catching on to anything I was saying. Now I just know he's stubborn.
As a parent, we think it's important to show people that our kid knows where his eyes, nose and mouth are, and an occasional belly and head. It seems if we don't teach them this very important information when they're 12-months-old or younger, they'll never figure it out! They'll be putting food in their eyes and won't know which end of the phone to talk into. Well my kid would never do this. So I was sure he was destined for a life of hardship. But apparently he knows exactly what he is doing.
I'm blown away by how much he knows and understands.

Since then he pretty much takes care of himself, changes his own diapers, cooks his own dinners, etc. We're currently working on finding him a full time job to help pay rent.