An Exceptional Charmer

I've heard it so many times that I've finally stopped fighting it, "Your son is such a pretty baby / boy." Instead of saying, "he's not pretty he's handsome," I just smile and say "thanks."
I don't know if he'll always have this skill but Dawson puts his good looks to work in charming other people.
A great example was last Monday night, when a lady from Parents as Teachers came over to meet with us. After getting over his initial shyness, Dawson started showing off for Ann. He started by just being flirty, then he began pulling pillows off the coach and launching himself onto them. He worked everyone, including himself, into a good fit of laughter. Dawson is certainly a charmer.

But he's also exceptional, at least according to Ann. She kept giving him the age appropriate tests to see whether his cognitive and motor skills had developed to the point at which they should be. And with just one exception (a big exception I'll write about in a second) Dawson passed all of them. He could stack blocks, pick up things with his fingers, stand up, etc.

What he's not doing yet is walking. Every stage (crawling, rolling over, etc.) Dawson has been patient and cautious, waiting until he could do it with ease. He's taking an even more cautious approach to walking. Recently, he'd stand for a moment before realizing he was standing on his own and then, once he realized it, would quickly sit back down. He gets mad if we try to have him stand or walk, too. Within a few days, however he's started standing straight up from a walking toy or something and begin clapping his hands while standing for a good 30 seconds. He'll even take a step or two before going back into a crawl. It seems he'll start walking almost reluctantly and accidentally.

After our meeting with Ann, we took Dawson outside for a stroll along the sidewalk on his John Deere ATV. He's pushing it along the sidewalk or riding it himself, careful to steer clear of the grass. Dawson walked over to the neighbors East of us and charmed the wife, Robin for awhile.

But I think Dawson grew tired of charming adults and decided to try someone closer to his age. So he decided to put the moves on the cute neighbor girl, Gabby. Gabby isn't too much older for Dawson, just old enough to be in his 'league' but still a challenge.

So, he pushed the ATV over to Gabby, started talking with her, then made his big move. He got off his ATV and got onto Gabby's bike with her. I thought it was pretty smooth but Gabby wasn't too sure. Once Gabby's dad came back outside with a shotgun, Dawson decided it was time to head for home...

In the top picture, Dawson is waving at some dogs walking by. Dawson has started to take quite a liking to dogs. When he hears one barking, he'll look around for it and say "gog." When he sees a dog, either an actual dog or one in a picture, he does his best bark imitation. I wanted to spell his 'bark' phonetically, but I just can't figure out how to do it.