Little Dude takes enjoyment from identifying things in his environment. He’s (happy? proud?) to point out spices, flickering lights, hot things, cold things, different colors, different articles of clothing, and so on.
He’s developed a fear, probably thanks to Yuki. He’s afraid of sheep.

It’s a bit sad, because he used to identify sheep. Now, when I show him a sheep on his word book, or ask him to name the animals on his mobile that used to be mine 3+ decades ago (thanks for making it, Mom!), he says either an obstinate “no”, or a troubled “no, please” (with his silly accent of “cheese” instead of “please”. He can make ‘p’ sounds, but he still says “cheese” for “please”). He got spooked by a very loud “MEHHHHHHH” of a goat at a petting zoo, and subsequently traumatized by Yuki constantly saying “MEHHHHH” around the house. I thought tricking and scaring our little dude would be funny, but I can’t bring myself to do it.

However…..I have him trained to fear the word “careful”. I used to do a Pavlovian thing with him every time he pinched his fingers or smashed his little head on things back when he was really little. I used it to keep him away from a hot stove or a power outlet, and I abused a little bit to keep him from opening the fridge by yelling “CAREFUL! CAREFUL!” and giving him an exaggerated hug and pulling him away, causing him to cry. “Lord save us from the frozen foods!”
I’m not entirely innocent when it comes to traumatizing Little Dude, but I did mine for altruistic reasons greater than just laughs.

We’ve been training him. The Berlitz experience has paid off. Also, not giving in to his shit also has worked out pretty well. He can fuck right off with his crying for more desert, that shit doesn’t fly.
In terms of Berlitz helping out, we make him repeat stuff a lot. We make him say stuff he doesn’t understand to give experience with the sounds, but also to build a foundation of things he can expect to hear. He has a tenuous grasp on what complex sentences mean, but it’s hilarious to say “I don’t know!” and have him ask “I don’t know, do you know?”. Well, I don’t know, do you know?
That whole “conversation” was to talk about how a flickering light outside disappeared. I explained that it was a light, and maybe someone fixed it, like how we fix (brush) his teeth or fix (clip) his fingernails, or even fix his nose.(pull all the snot out of his nose with a suction device while he screams like he is being waterboarded.)
At least experiences like these have hammered home the concept of “no”, and the sadder, more effective “no! cheese!”

He’s moving around quite a bit better. He generally locks an arm in position and swings the other like a baseball pitcher warming up, but he can move rather well. I yell “hayai! hayai!” (fast! fast!) and chase him around. Sometimes he says that, but he usually announces his departure with either a joyous or sad “bye bye”. When it is time to change his diaper, he will proudly announce “bye bye!” and the race is on. When we won’t give in to his demands for more mikan/satsuma orange, he’ll give us a “bye bye” and slam his face into the couch to pout while we quietly laugh at him.
It’s great fun when he gets hyper and starts announcing all of his activities. He’ll “dance!” and small his feet around, spin, attempt to jump and never leave the ground. When he gets hyper, he gets tired, and that is good news.
When he was a newborn, the situation was horrible. He couldn’t fall asleep on his own despite being tired. Newborns are a hundred different kinds of bullshit, but that’s an entire post unto itself. I’m just glad that he knows when it is time to go to sleep, and doesn’t fight it anymore. Just lay down and go to sleep, it’s obvious that you are tired by the way you keep jamming your fingers in your eyes and flopping on the couch while sucking your thumb.

In terms of favorite things, buses, trains, and cars top the list. Yuki’s cousin thinks this is due to genetics – men having a hunter background (liking moving things) and women having a gatherer background (liking bags). I hope that isn’t sexist. At least it plays into his anecdote, and he’s a doctor, so…. not sexist…right?
Probably sexist 🙁
But, Leo loses his mind over buses, trains, and cars in that order. Those are the trifecta of his joy. When we ask him to grab a book, he generally grabs these  trash books which we hate, and these books are nothing more than pictures of vehicles, or pictures of TOY vehicles…like genuine advertisements in the veneer of being a book. They are so shameless in their advertising. Pages literally say “where is xyz train on this page of our entire product catalog?”
Ugh. I hate how effective it is. Leo loves that book more than his worn-out car book, but there is so little he can learn from it. We’ve reviewed all of the colors and the objects, so the only thing left is the worthless names of these stupid trains. Goddam Hayabusa E5 Express.