The Boo is talking a bit more now, at 15 months. He’s got Ba for Ball and Bath down pat, and Dada is quite popular as well. But now he says Dis! for This and Dat! for That and Dees! for These. It’s so damn cute! The best one though… Ish! for Fish! Accompanied by the baby sign. We have fishes on our shower curtain and he loves running up to it, giving it a kiss, and saying ISH ISH ISH and waving his little hand around. Awww!

He can also point. I am continually amazed at how one has to LEARN to do things that are so integral in my being I can’t believe I couldn’t once do them. Like pointing. Useful skill, that.

Another freaky thing about the kid. He’s really cottoning on to things, much faster than his parents are realizing that he knows what we’re talking about. I’ve always tried to talk to him like a normal person but I have gotten used to him not having a clue what I’m saying. Now I’ll say things like “I need my shoes” and he BRINGS THEM TO ME. Damn. It’s kind of creepy, really. He understands but he can’t talk back yet…. man, what must be going on inside his head.

My very clever boy has just figured out that if he waves a measuring tape in front of the cat, she’ll go after it! We caught it on tape! Check it out. (You’ll need a login and password to see it… give me a shout if you need one!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo with Mema. Lesson learned: Always take the sodding camera to the zoo! It was a great day and we missed many photographic moments.

For example, Boo sat on an elephant statue and looked very pleased with himself. Boo and Mema rode the carousel; it was Boo’s first ride ever! He loved it! He was very cute, he had trouble finding me but looked very excited when he finally realized I was in the same place every time and in fact he was moving. We also saw an Orangutan (sp?) who was right up by the glass looking at all of us as if we were the spectacles (which with Boo is often the case). Then he peed. That was pretty priceless. Tapirs also ranked high on the list of favourites. Lions, not so much, although I was interested to see a new male lounging about. No Lorikeets this time but I’m sure we’ll be back soon. WITH A CAMERA!

Boo had a big day in the snow! Actually we were out there all of ten minutes because he has a cold, but it was a great day because of it, nonetheless.

Boo’s first snow was actually in December 2004. He was not very impressed then:

This year is much improved though. We bundled him up in his shoes from his Mema and a snowsuit courtesy of his Grandpa and Grandma Lucas so he was quite toasty. Much warmer than us, in fact, who were freezing! Boo loved the show, and since it was a couple of inches high, his tracks looked like he was skiing since he couldn’t lift his feet above the surface of the snow. He fell a few times, but that didn’t stop him in the slightest. We did a circuit of the house and exchanged a few snowballs. Here’s my favourite pic:

There are more pics on Boo’s site here:baby.yandell.org. Email us if you need access!