Early mornings

Every couple of days, Augie sees fit to get up around 4:30am. (That's probably partly because the sun is starting to get up that early; it actually rises around 5:45 right now, but by 4:45 you can definitely tell that it's getting lighter.) Someone should teach that boy some manners.

He picked up a new sign today, the sign for "water." We just started doing it a few days ago, so we're impressed that he picked it up so quickly. Again, it's just an approximation of the actual sign, which is holding the middle three fingers up (thumb holds pinky down at the palm) and tapping the chin; Augie's sign is his balled-up fist going to and from his chin. We're excited that he's picking up language in this way and able to communicate his wants with us, so we'll keep teaching him new signs (and learning them ourselves).

More from our playtime yesterday. This is Augie waving at a goose (while chasing it). Notice which way his palm faces:

Every time we pass one, Augie picks an orange stick from the ground and uses it as his walking stick and attacking sword: