Buh-bye!
Well, Joseph picked up something new today. For the first time, he waved goodbye to someone.
I know, it’s nothing really all that special. Babies learn to wave goodbye every day. Everyone learns how to wave goodbye eventually. Still, the first time you see a baby do it, it’s a very cute thing. So, for the benefit of family members who may be reading this, here’s the full story. (I know for starters that my mom will want to hear all the details. Grandmothers are like that.) For everyone else who could care less, move along people. Nothing to see here!
Back to the story, Joseph’s first time ever waving goodbye to someone was in church. I play the organ and Marcie directs music, so when music is happening, somebody has to keep an eye on Joseph. As people were leaving the chapel today, Marcie told Joseph to “say goodbye” to the woman who had been watching him today. He smiled at her and then waved his hand! Marcie was positive he knew exactly what he was doing, too, and I think she’s right. He waves both arms when he’s excited about something, but this is the first time he’s only waved one arm. So there was a conscious decision to do something different that what he’d normally do. But that’s not all… there’s more data to prove he knows what he’s doing.
I didn’t get to see this happen because I was finishing up a postlude on the organ at the time. So later, as we drove home, Marcie was telling me the story above. When she explained that he waved when she said “bye bye”, he started waving again, this time for me to see. It was with his right hand instead of his left, though.
Regardless, it appears that saying “bye bye” to him will trigger more waving goodbye with one hand or the other. Marcie’s parents were here for dinner Sunday night and when they left, he first waved goodbye to grandma and then again for grandpa. So they both got to see him do it. And then, when Marcie took him up to bed and I said “goodnight” to him and waved, he waved back with his free hand as he looked at me over her shoulder, grinning.