For instance... I can understand seeing a dog, being told that this thing is called a "dog," and learning it. But then how is it that he can recognize different things as dogs??? I started to think about this as we were leaving daycare the other day, when he pointed to Bonnie's cast-iron Scottish Terrier doorstop and said "doggy!" Now I know he's seen dogs before, but never a Scottie-- how did he know to call it a dog? Then we passed a black lab, and again he said "doggy!" He points to the picture of a cartoon dog on his pajamas and knows that that's a dog, too! Same with a stuffed bulldog, the picture of a Sharpei on his highchair, and, of course, his stuffed Golden Retriever toy. Somehow, he has created a definition in his mind of what a dog is, and it must be a good one. Because he's always right about dogs (that's the crazy part!!).
Then, this afternoon, we were playing on the floor in his bedroom. Mostly he was handing me his books and scattering them all over the place. I started reading one of the books aloud to him. We came to a picture of a Myna bird, which he pointed at and said "cack-cack?" in a questioning tone. "Cack-cack" is what he calls ducks! He saw the picture of the bird, with its semi-large, slightly duck-like beak, and wasn't sure if it was a duck or not! I could seriously see the wheels spinning in his head as I told him it was a bird, not a duck (even if a duck IS a bird). I'm sure he was taking in that information and refining his definition of "duck," right there on the spot. And that is incredible, if you ask me!
On a totally different note... Here's a picture I took this afternoon! Now that he's standing on his own for longer and longer periods (sometimes a minute or two), I wanted to attempt a Christmas tree photo. So here is Nikos with the "chee":
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