Please!

Lately Ethan has been putting his hand toward the object he desires and grunting. Last night Matt and I had enough of that. We spent 5 minutes teaching him how to sign please. We would hold him and inevitably he would point towards something he wanted and grunt. We would do the sign, say please, grab his hand to do the sign, then let him touch what he wanted. (The clock, picture frame, microwave buttons, magnet on the fridge). We did this for a good 5 minutes and lo' and behold he now knows how to sign PLEASE!!!! YES!!!! This morning when I was changing his diaper he gestured and grunted towards a wall decoration in his room. I said, "say please" and he did it! I thought for sure he would forget his new trick over night.
Matt and I were so proud of him last night. Sure there might be kids that can sign many things by now. But Ethan is definitely one of those kids that wants to do things his own way in his own time. He just frankly doesn't care. We tried for so long to teach him bye bye and he NEVER did it. He would look at us like... this is fun (sarcastically) and would be off playing with a toy. Last week we were sitting in the living room and he started waving his hand and said, "HIIIIII!" What a goober!
He's got many fun tricks. I sign to him "all done", and his way of telling me all done is by taking off his bib. Seems like there is no way to teach him to do the official sign, but I know he's all done because he's come up with a sign on his own. When I ask him if he's hungry, he starts moving his tongue. It's so funny. He's doing his own things to communicate and its all him! I love it! So why push him to do something for the sake of doing it?! When I ask him if he wants milk, he walks to the fridge. When I take him down out of his high chair I say, "ok, lets go play with toys!" And he walks into his play area and starts playing. HE'S GROWING UP TOO FAST, but I LOVE it! I love to see him discover things on his own.
Other fun stuff he does completely on his own:
when he eats blueberries he puts them in his mouth and sucks the berry out of the skin off; he has learned the art of popping cheerios to make them flip off his tray; he hides small balls under the couch and looks at you daring you to find them; window watching; tackles pillows when they're on the floor.... and much more i'll save for another day!
We love him!