Personality

My child has recently been exhibiting some interesting personality traits. I am not sure if I should be proud, offended, or worried. Any thoughts?

• No! He is very big on shaking his head no. "Does Mommy love you?" I ask, shakes "No!" Do you want more water, "No!" - again, just shaking his head, which is incredibly cute. I wasn't sure he really knew what it meant, but I think he does! It is cute now, but once he starts using the word no, boy that will not be so cute...
• All done. Some people have suggested we teach the kiddo sign language. We are staying away from this at present for no real dramatic reason. But, it seems as though the kiddo has taken it upon himself to create an all new, "All done!" gesture. When he decides he is finished with his food he smashes his hand right into the food in front of him, and then proceeds to violently push everything off of the high chair, all over the floor. When I yell "No!" - the little bugger just smiles and laughs at me. Am I in for a brat? How do I stop this behavior immediately!?!
• Walking. The kiddo walks. Just slightly right now. Joel and I sit about 4 feet apart and the kiddo just goes back and forth between us. Most of the time he looks like a drunken sailor, but some of the time he looks like he is an expert walker. The other day at a play group, he was standing with my friend Alyson, he turned, looked at me, said "Ma Ma" and walked three steps to me. I damn near cried. Ok, so a few seconds later he was babbling "ma ma ma ma ma." So, the whole Ma Ma thing was probably a coincidence, but hey, I will take it. And torture Joel about it too...
• Crawling. He is still army crawling. He knows how to get on his knees, and will make a motion to crawl, but I swear you can see something go on in his head, he thinks, "eh, it is probably easier just to get on my belly..." and two seconds later, splat, onto belly and away he goes. Will he ever learn how to crawl correctly? Should I be worried he is about walking before crawling correctly? This is slowing down his ability to sit himself up.

Those are just some of the tidbits of the moment. He is napping way too long now, we are off to see friends. Not sure if we will make it to Newburyport 15 minutes from now...