Conference

Latter-day Saint General Conference was last weekend and I just love it! I love being able to hear words from modern-day prophets and apostles. There is always something I need to hear that applies to my life and the concerns/worries/thoughts, etc that I have had of recent. Fortunately, I caught a few pearls of wisdom (I loved Elder Oaks' talk on desires... see/hear/read it at http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/04?lang=eng). Unfortunately, Otto is a bit busier and constantly distracting. I'm not gonna lie... there were a few talks I wished I heard more of. In spite of his busy behavior, when a speaker or prayer would finish Otto would say "Amen!" and then continue whatever he was doing.

During the Saturday afternoon session, Otto randomly said, "All done" when he felt like it was time to turn off the TV and stop watching conference. So, I decided it was time for Otto's afternoon snack (he's usually more focused when food is involved). I sat him in his high chair and gave him his snack. He then looked up when a member of the 70 was speaking and immediately folded his arms and bowed his head. He waited a few seconds, said "Amen!" and looked up to see that the general authority was still at the pulpit. He immediately refolded his arms, bowed his head, waited a few seconds then said, "Amen!" Heedless of my comment between prayers that the general authority wasn't praying, Otto repeated this about 5 times until he kind of just gave up on it. It was adorable. We love him so much and in spite of his busy, energetic spirit, are so happy to see that he catches onto things that we try to teach him.

Communication

So, I feel like Otto has been learning a lot, especially related to communication. He can sign lots of words; yes, baby, tree, all done/finished, more, ball, mommy, daddy, eat (sometimes), drink (sometimes), etc. He understands quite a bit and he is forming words, too (hi, dog, ball, etc). The other day Otto did a couple of adorable things that I really wasn't expecting to have happen in a long time.

Cute thing #1
After waking up, he pointed at the picture of Jesus we have near the light switch in his bedroom and said, "Jesu" (Jesus without the end "s")... Eric said Otto said that with him the other day, too, so I know it wasn't just my imagination. I wasn't expecting that for a long time!

Cute thing #2
At breakfast, Otto was eating his cereal and we had just set the table for Eric and me to join him, when he put his hands together like he has done recently when we've said, "prayer, Otto"... except we didn't say that to him - he just took the initiative. A few minutes later, after we had all been eating he did it again and looked up at us, waiting for another prayer. So, we said another prayer. It was adorable!

So, this is living proof that religious teachings don't just fly by our little ones - they REALLY notice! And it seems like he appreciates it and has a desire for it, which I'm sure most children have as well. It's a testimony to me that our little ones are the wisest amongst us all, having a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father than we realize.