Life Is a Ball.

Well, according to Jude at least.  We're experiencing a mini-explosion of word and word associations in our household lately.  Jude can say and identify Mama and Dada (although sometimes he apparently gets us confused), ball (ba!), book (gook!), hi, dog (da!), monkey (kkkey)...and there are a few others that I "think" he says, but they are too sporatic to say for certain.  His favorite word and thing is "ball".  The kid goes absolutely ape whenever we are at the grocery store and he sees one of those giant containers with those marble swirl bouncy balls.  He starts pointing, kicking his legs excitedly and emphatically repeating over and over "Ba! Ba! Ba! BA! BA! BAAA!" We are the proud owners of three (yes, three) identical of these because Phil puts one in the cart every single time because it makes him so happy.  He hasn't learned the genius move I pull out of my pocket by either a.) avoiding the aisle completely or b.) quickly get away from the display with a silly "peekaboo!" to get him to giggle and it's soon forgotten.  However, this obsession with all things ball has gone beyond the scope of cheap plastic ones.  Display of watermelons and cantalopes?  BA!  Circular wall decorations in restaurants or shops?  BA!  Tires?  BA!  Doorknobs?  BA!  If it's circular, then it's a ball- and Jude wants to have it.