Cruisin'

Ellie just turned 14 months old and has only recently started to cruise around the furniture. She has been walking all over with our help holding her hands for weeks now. The other day I stood her up to her stroller and had her hold on and she took off, since getting it for her birthday she has had little to do with it.
It's funny, with Ethan I expected him to do everything late because he's a boy (and "they" say boys do things slower). With Ellie I've thought she'd do things sooner, but am learning it is all opposite of everything "they" say (who is "they", anyway?). Anyhow, she's taking her time on things, but that's okay I want to enjoy this last time of going through all of a child's firsts.
Here are some of Elisabeth's other milestones: First words - "What's that?" "What's this?" "this" she sees Simba and Brutis and says something that sounds like their names, she says dada and mama but not always in reference to us; she's really good at point at the things she wants and saying "that". I'm quickly remembering how much faster babies' receptive language develops before their oral language, but everyday Ellie reminds me.
One of the things that Ethan does for his homework is a page where he reviews letter names and sounds, and some other readings. One day I had Ellie on my lap at the table while working with Ethan on his homework. His fluency paper ended up in front of us and Ellie started pointing at letters and making random sounds. She obviously was not say letters or their sounds, but her rhythm was the same as when Ethan is reading his sounds. It was pretty cute.
Everyday I am amazed at watching our children grow and learn. When they are young their brains are such incredible sponges. In a recent trip to the grocery store I was reminded of the many things they learn implicitly from us, their parents.
Me: "Oh, maybe we should have chicken hawaiin for dinner tonight."
Ethan: (in his louder than appropriate voice) "CHICKEN HAWAIIN?". . . . ."What the freakin' hell is that?"
I had my laugh and then had to explain to him why those are not words he should use.