Counterpoint

Kiernan started pointing at things on Sunday. Wendy was playing with him in the afternoon when he started pointing up at the aforementioned mylar balloons that have taken up residence on our ceiling. While I realize this is not exactly an earthshattering development, it is pretty cool to us. See, he's got a couple of tricks now. He claps fairly well. He waves (mainly goodbye) with some frequency. He has learned a hand-sign for "eat" which he has been doing for a few months. And now he points at stuff.

The reason I think this is so cool is that it is such a clear and specific gesture. There is no doubt that what he is doing is pointing. When he first learned to clap, it was this mainly silent activity that really served to highlight that he is right-handed. He would hold his left hand in place in front of himself, and bring his right hand to meet it in kind of a flailing motion. Then we tried teaching him to wave and clapping went away for awhile, like he only had one slot available for new hand gestures in his memory bank. Waving, too, has a sort of flailing quality about it. He's gotten much better as the weeks have gone by, but it's not very consistent and it's not always easy to get him to do it. Clapping, incidentally, has since returned and is much improved. For one thing, you can hear the noise of clapping when he does it. For another, the kid will do it at the drop of a hat. If a group is watching him he goes nuts clapping. It's his fall back trick. His specialty. Luckily the waving is there otherwise we'd have a real one-trick pony on our hands.

The pointing, then, is the first gesture he's done that is an absolutely perfect imitation of the way an adult would point. Index finger extended. Thumb and other fingers curled under in a fist. We can't get him to point upon request yet, but when he does point it's clear he wants something, and I just find this delightful. I love that he's really starting to be able to communicate to us beyond the tools he had early on, like crying and smiling. I'm not always clear what he's saying. I know when he points at the balloons, he wants the balloons, but when he points at the cabinet door, does he want a cabinet door or a Pilsner glass behind it? Or is he just expressing, as the cat does at every opportunity, that any closed door is simply unacceptable? I haven't cracked the code yet, but at least he is trying to communicate.

I love that. Hopefully I'll catch up soon.