Melkamu Update

Today we have been home nine months with Melkamu, which is just completely unbelievable. When I go back and look at pictures from when we first came home, I am surprised to see a baby. He is such a little boy now, although still my baby. He has moved to one nap over the last few months, instead of a morning and afternoon nap. He takes a long nap (very long, we hope) about noon everyday. He is saying a lot of words on a regular basis now: juice is our favorite, it's so cute when he says it, and bye, hi, eye, nose, ball, bike, back, b for basement, boo for book, rock, hot, hat, hide, and shoe (which sounds more like yooes). And our cat, Rio, who I call Riri. Melke is constantly looking for Riri and calling out his name. In fact every cat he sees is "riri". I'm sure I am forgetting something else he says. And sometimes he says a word once, like "elbow", perfectly clearly but then doesn't say it again. He has also started to show us over the past month or two, by patting his own little bottom, when his diaper is dirty and needs to be changed. I recently got out the little potty seat and put it in the bathroom and told him that's where you go poopoo. He likes to go in there and sit on it. One day it was kind of quiet and I found him in the bathroom sitting on his little potty and going poop. It was pretty cute, of course he was wearing pants and a diaper. I took his pants and diaper off so he could sit on it, but he wouldn't go anywhere near it with a naked bottom.