Walking, wanking, and going under the knife

A few updates...

The kid is great.

After about 4 weeks of creeping and clinging to our fingers while taking step-lets, tonight JB took 6-7 consecutive steps several times. We set him up in front of us and did the, "Go see Mama," now, "Go see Mommy" thing. He's so unstable and wiggly, but he is definitely close to walking. In fact, if we are not calling what he is doing now walking, I'm not sure when we will make that designation.

He's found his penis. Every night in the tub for the last week, he ignores the ducks, boats, and cups of water, preferring instead to tickle and pull his little pup. It is more amusing to me than it should be. Especially when he starts sort of singing every time he takes a grab at it.

Tuesday was Veteran's day and we spent the morning on the other side of the health care system. First, an amazingly sweet and talented audiologist named Brian tested JB's hearing. After about 30 minutes it was determined that due to the fluid behind his eardrums, JB has some "significant" hearing deficits. Then the ENT left us waiting in the anxiety of that information for about 20 minutes - giving JB enough time to play in the sink, tear up the paper on the exam table, attempt to rip the opthalmoscope off the wall, and motion incessantly toward the phone on the wall. When we were all about to lose it at the 65 minute mark, a seemingly pre-pubescent boy came in and told us he'd like to do surgery on our baby.

That's right. Ear tubes. We were worried this day might come, but to honest, I thought we would fight it more. Fight it as in, "The research shows... blah, blah, blah." But instead, we're all like, "hearing... deficit... surgery... okay."

So, On the lighter side, there might be a def-a-sit, but the kid can hear for sure. His latest cuteness includes:
1) Dancing whenever he hears music,
2) pointing to body parts when you ask, "where's Jake's ____?" (He knows belly, head, nose, and toes)
3) He follows directions including:
- Take your binki out and put it in the crib
- Put the cap on your bottle
- Take your hat off/ put your hat on
- Give (fill in name) a kiss/hug
- Throw the ball

He lifts his feet to get his shoes and socks put on. He signs for bath and milk. He shakes his head no and says "uh-oh" (or atleast has an 'uh-oh' version of the one-syllable "oh"). He seems to have only one word: "mama" (unless you count the many intonations of "oh" he produces.) But we swear that at least 3 times, he repeated "Obama" (with considerable prompting.)