He's so smart.

Grayson is SO smart. We've known for a while now that he understands a LOT more than what he says. For example, months ago, I would say, "Move your hands" as I walked towards him with his high chair tray in my hands. Immediately, he would move them aside so I could put the tray on his high chair.
.
Currently, I think the most popular word in our household is "no"...and the most popular phrase is "No, Grayson". ;) He is into ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. He is interested in important papers, our computer, our printer, electric sockets, our cup of writing pens, cabinet doors, drawers, our cell phones, etc. This list is endless really. Sometimes he is so driven (aka "hard-headed) to do what he wants to do that he either completly ignores us or stops for a second (to satisfy us) and goes right back to doing whatever it is he was doing. :)
.
Something else he loves playing with is the dogs' water. We have an automatic waterer. So, when the bowl needs water, the jug will gurgle a few times, and dispense some water. 9 times out of 10, Gray first goes for the bowl itself. And he knows he isn't supposed to do that. Ray will say, "No, Grayson". He stops for a second or a few seconds giving Ray or I time to turn our attention away from him. But since we caught on to what he does, we watch him out of the corner of our eye! ;) He will go right back to what he was doing. Again, one of us will say, "No". He pulls his hand away and then instead of touching the water or the bowl, he will rest his hand on the top of the jug. This is his way of saying, "I'm not touching the water or the bowl anymore...I'm touching the JUG". Still, he knows he isn't supposed to mess with the dogs' water at all. One of us will say, "No" and move his hand. A few seconds later, he will touch the jug again - but this time with a finger!!!! It's like he's saying, "Not touching..." :)
.
A few weeks ago, he started shaking his head "no" when we say "No". I don't mind at all. A while back (months and months ago), Ray came up with this great idea to shake our head "no" as we tell Grayson "No". We felt it would help him better understand that we don't want him to do that thing because he was/is a pro at shaking his head "no" when he doesn't want something. Ray's idea worked wonderfully! I think it helped Grayson understand better that we were using our word but his gesture to communicate with him. But as you can imagine, just because he understands doesn't mean he always does as we want him to.
.
When Grayson is doing something I don't want him to do, I say, "No" and shake my head "no". He looks at me straight in the eye with a serious look on his face and shakes his head "no" too. I say, "That's right. No." Still, he shakes his head "no". He is so cute that I have to work hard not to smile. But even when my smile doesn't show through, he must know I'm smiling inside because he wrinkles his nose, smiles, and laughs until he makes me smile. :)
.