Too Adorable for a sidebar

Hyrum made his first stab at drawing people yesterday. First he drew Daddy, then he drew Mommy.

When I came home from work, as soon as I walked in the door, Hyrum excitedly jumped up and down, put a hat on his head, and yelled, "Look like Daddy! Look like Daddy!"

Hyrum has begun 'tickling' Mommy. He runs his fingers over her arm or under her chin and giggles at her. Joy is not ticklish, but recognizing what he's trying for, she laughs away to encourage him. That thrills him even more. Often he's trying to stall for time to prevent something he doesn't like, but it's one of the first things he's done for physical connectedness with her, so she's thrilled.

New favorite phrases include telling us when his toys "turn on," or "turn off," or were "turned on" or off; "I find _____" and "I found _____;" and he's getting a lot better at saying longer names for the songs.

Oh, right! Speaking of songs. Today Hyrum sang to me! He said, "Let's go fly a kite Up to highest height. ... Fly a kite." No notes, but that is the longest continuous speech he has ever made and it's a song.

He's also taken to trying to sing with Joy and me more when we sing. So far he sings along with ABCs, The Chapel Doors (that seem to say to me Shhhh, be still), and he tried singing Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me when we sang it for Family Home Evening. The way he sings is to make an ehhh sound at a monotonic pitch until he recognizes a word and then he fills in the rest of the word. Now if I can train us to change keys to fit his monotonic pitch, he can sing the bass note for us and we'll harmonize!

Oh, he's also decided that "You Can Fly" from Peter Pan is really "I Can Fly!"