A cow says "ooooooooo"

We spent another glorious two-days at my parent's lake house this past weekend and I've officially decided that there is nothing better for my soul than escaping to that little slice of heaven.  Maybe it's the crisp, fresh lake air and the ability to get some real oxygen into my lungs.  Or perhaps is the sharp silence when you first wake up in the morning.  Or if we're being real here, it's probably because Nick seems to sleep best at the Lake.  All of which add to my zen like state, the dropping of my blood pressure, and the full ability to just de-stress, unwind, and breathe. 

Whatever the main reason, the Lake is my happy place.  And I'm already ticking off the days in my planner until we can go back.  I've gone so far as to tell my husband he can host Shandy Cup in our house again this year, because THIS year, Nick and I can escape to the lake with my folks.  Heaven.

So the weekend was spent playing games (Sour Apples to Apples, Scattergories, Poker), eating far too much yummy food (baked spaghetti, egg & hash brown casseroles, huge deli sandwiches, snicker doodle cookies, hamburgers & hot dogs...yes my stomach still hurts two days later), having a two-on-two basketball game with Todd, my brother, and his girlfriend (yes, my body still hurts two days later), snuggling and playing with my favorite two year old, and enjoying the fact that at any given time, his two very willing grandparents were ready to jump in and take over for a while, giving Todd and I ample time to just RELAX. All three dogs came to the lake as well, and it was two straight days of puppy lovin'...(although if we're being honest, Whinnie needs to learn a little more about sharing properly).

But the absolute highlight of our ridiculously relaxing weekend??

Nick started repeating some animal noises.

For a kid who up until now has been less than verbal, this was huge.  All on his own.  Practically out of thin air.

We were sitting at the coffee table reading books, and he picked up his "FARM" book.  It's basically just a short, 8 page board book, with pictures of farm animals and items, with the word printed under them.  Up until this weekend, any time I read the book to Nick, he had zero response to my questions of "what does a _________ say"...unless it was a duck, in which case he would give me a very quiet "kack".

So here I was, flipping the pages, and came across the cow.  Before I could even finish saying "what does a cow say?"  Nick responded with a very loud, and matter-of-fact "ooooooooooo!".  Sure, he was missing the "mmm" sound at the beginning, but he knew damn well what he was saying - and what he was saying was "moo!"

I turned the page to a sheep and said "Nick, what does a sheep say??" and he responded with a loud "aahahahaaha".  It wasn't quite "baaaahhh", but we both knew exactly what he meant and that he was 'getting it' finally!  So I asked one more - that wasn't in the book - and said "Nick, what does a monkey say?" and damn if my little guy didn't put both hands under his arm pits like a monkey and say "eeee eeee eee!"  Something Todd and I have been trying to get him to do for months.  MONTHS.

It was one of my proudest mommy moments to date.  For a mommy of a verbal toddler, I'm sure this won't make much sense.  I'm sure this sounds like something a 14 month old should be saying, not a 4-days-from-turning-2 toddler.  But for us, it was huge.  It was a breakthrough.  And you better believe I jumped up and down, clapped, swung him around, and cheered like he'd just won the Nobel Prize.  Because to me, it felt that good.  He's finally getting it.  He really wants to talk.  He is GOING to talk.  And it's starting now.
   
Like I said - there's something magical...something healing...about the Lake House.  And I can't wait to go back.