I read on my Aunt Nancy's blog that she was slightly sad that her little boy, Jesse, was now actually saying "blankie" instead of his original word for it, "gamey." Lately, Israel has begun calling his blanket, "gwonkie," which I absolutely LOVE and has taken to adding "-ley" to many of his words. His bottle is "bottley," Daddy is "Dadaley," and so on. I know that I am going to miss these little things quite a bit when he outgrows them and many others.

He is growing up so much and is so darn smart. When we look at pictures on the computer (which is one of his favorite things), he can tell me who's in them: Monie (Mommy), Dada, Ampa (Grandpa, of course), Baby. He also loves to look at books, especially an animal one I bought him in St. George that I have finally hidden because I can't stand to look at it anymore. He doesn't say the names of the animals yet (except fish which was one of his first ever words and is pronounced "bissh"), but he knows all their sounds. He quacks, meows, woofs, moos, neighs, oinks, crows, and does whatever you call the sound monkeys make. It is the cutest thing. He does know the animals by their names. I say, "Israel, where's the ____?" and it amazes me how much of the time he gets it right even when its a more obscure animal that I don't think he should know. He's very cautious. His little finger often hovers over the page, circling slowly for some time before he chooses the correct animal.

He doesn't say a ton of words yet, though more and more all the time, but he will sometimes take us completely by surprise like the other day when I was carrying him, I set his bottle down somewhere and started walking away. He started pointing at the bottle and screaming, "I want it!" And the other day, Hiram's mother made us some french toast for breakfast. We walked into the kitchen and Israel, plain as day says, "Mmm! Cake!" We swear he tells us to "Let go" sometimes, too. Its crazy that this tiny little person is observing and learning so much. I have to be careful. He loves all the nasty cats here and tries to pet them every chance he gets, but when they try to come sidle up to me, I toss them with my foot and yell at them to get lost. I've been noticing that he will sometimes push them and yell at them now too, which is probably for the best since they're most likely diseased, but it tells me I need to be aware of my actions around the boy.

I just need to record these things so I don't have to feel terrified anymore of forgetting them. I'm sure you all understand. By the way, thank you all for reading and commenting on my last post.