Talkin' About Moles (the Animals)

I have not been very good so far this month at updating my list of Ethan's words... He has been adding to the list so quickly that I'm not sure that it will be possible to keep up. I guess I'd need to stop recording them sometime anyhow, and we're approaching (if not have already hit) the "word explosion" stage. He loves learning new words and wants us to name lots of things for him. He is constantly pointing or gesturing to get our attention so that we'll tell him what something is called. He especially loves any and all animals. The first three syllable word that he said clearly and consistently is "animal" (which is also often spoken when he's requesting some yummy animal crackers). He has an animal book that has large, colorful drawings of animals on each page, and he enjoys turning the pages and going over and over what the animals are called. The funny thing is that the first one that he repeatedly found in that book and said is "mole". Now, how often is that one of the first animals a toddler learns to name? I guess they are often overlooked animals and aren't included in most toddler animal books, but I thought it was funny for him to choose that one out of all of the animals. He also enjoys pointing to and saying "bear" and "bee". He can point to many animals if you ask for him to look for a specific one, but he is actually clearly saying just a few names at this point. It's so much fun to watch him learn and for us to be able to communicate more!