Signing EAT?

It was mostly a stay-at-home day. I wished we could have used the wading pools but they aren't clean yet. I felt like I was changing diapers between every activity. It also felt like our destined trip to Costco wasn't going to happen until way after the kids woke up from their naps. I had to snack them, too, so Costco wasn't until 5pm. When we got back I let the kids stay in the driveway. Nikko spent most of the time on the tricycle. He's not using the pedals to move, he's just using his own feet and he has figured out that he has to take short steps or he'll scrape his shins on the pedals. During lunch, Nikko scarfed down half the package of mac cheese I made for him, and at dinner he ate just as much. He even picked up his plate (with nuggets still on it), turned it perpendicular to the floor and licked the cheese sauce off it. The funny thing about Nikko is that he might love it today, but may ignore it tomorrow. Today I used Scooby Doo shaped mac cheese (not because I like SD. I'm not really a fan, it was on sale) but tomorrow I have the classic elbow macaroni and I wonder if he'll refuse it because it's different. He did that once and I had a lot of mac cheese left over. One other thing of significance today is that I put in the Signing Time DVD again, just to see if it would soak in. Ronin was very receptive to it and was imitating what he saw. It took two passes for Nikko to start finding it amusing. I heard him giggling at some animated cat and saw him smiling at random scenes. I don't know if he's mesmerized by Rachel the narrator or if the music is enchanting, but he started throwing mini-fits when I turned it off or tried to switch it to Sprout. Guess we'll take this DVD and the Hi-5s to Georgia, if we go. Before dinner, I saw Nikko imitating the sign for Eat. He put his fingers to his lips. He was also putting his fingers in his mouth entirely, but I watched him closely and I saw the definite sign for Eat. He even moved his mouth slightly, like Ronin does, when he imitates the action of eating. I praised Nikko for signing. Now I've got to encourage him to use it appropriately. It's great that he imitated something he saw on TV. Months ago he would never do that! Seeing all these little kids on this DVD do signs must be entertaining, and I think he'll try to imitate them, but I have to help him put meaning to the signs.