January 8, 2001 - Monday
I'm away from Harry for a couple of days again on business, but Harry's made progress on a few skills lately that are worth recording.

1) Some time over the last couple of weeks, Harry's two words - dad and cat - have recognizably morphed into other words and taken on appropriate meanings. From "dad" he has gained "dat," which he regularly uses while pointing at objects of desire. Most commonly, we hear "dat" at the table when Harry sees something he thinks he wants to eat. Usually, of course, he ends up not so interested after all in what he was pointing at, but that's a different matter. "Dat" is most often used for beverages, because it's still a little tenuous leaving his cup on his tray, though interestingly, "dat" is starting to give way to "cat," which he has molded into "cup," which is even better for drinks.

2) Harry's taken to calling his mother "dad'n," or daddy, probably because it's worked so well with me. It's a common progression, apparently, that a child says mommy or daddy, gets a big positive response from it, and then tries the same word for the other parent and other people. Of course, we've both been correcting him, saying "I'm daddy, that's mommy." Unfortunately, it's starting to seem like a game for Harry, calling his mother "daddy" and having her smile and say "no, I'm mommy."

3) When I talked to Harry's mother yesterday by phone, she mentioned that Harry had been saying "hi" to various people at the grocery store yesterday morning. He was sitting it shopping cart and would often turn and say "hi." Of course, everyone thought it was very cute and said "hi" back. Also while I was on the phone, Harry mother's held the phone to his ear. I said "Harry, it's your dad" and he reportedly smiled, then started demanding the phone.


Comments, opinions?