Heavy Drinker

Particularly with the continuing heat (though thankfully we've backed down a bit from the crazy 105 degrees from earlier this week), we've been focusing on Zachary getting his liquids. Related to the drinking came a breakthrough earlier this week - he signed for milk (as he often does; I think he'd try to subsist on milk alone if we let him), and when Meh asked him if he wanted milk, he said "mih!". It's been repeated more and more consistently since then.

Yesterday, Zachary and I had lunch with friends J & S at their house. With the increasing heat (and his newfound skill verbally communicating a desire for milk), he's been an even more selective eater (though I did watch him eat three kernels of corn the other day), and requests milk more often. Thankfully today he seemed more comfortable, and both ate more and drink more juice ("juice" generally meaning water with a splash of juice).
After lunch, we played outside under J & S's deck, which Zachary decided was the perfect place for spinning. He's really goofy-looking when he spins around, because he locks his eyes opposite the direction of the spin for some reason, which I'd think likely makes him even dizzier. He did encourage J to spin along with him, and then laughed and watched.

Beyond 'milk', other sounds are starting to come into the mix as well - "dada" occasionally relating to me (though typically when I ask him who I am, I'm still "mama"), more "yeah" and "go", and my new favorite would have to be the seemingly random syllables he'll throw at an animal when he doesn't know what sound it's supposed to make. One of our favorite games lately is for him to complete my sentence - I'll say "uhhhb...", and then he'll happily reply "baka-waka". The extended "wah-baka-waka" remains one of his favorites, and he even developed a joke around it yesterday: