One and a half years old

I can't believe he is a year and a half. Where did the time go?

Our little guy is doing so well. He's hitting all the Nippising District Development Screens so all is well. He's walking, running, pushing toys, riding bikes, climbing, tunneling, stepping up, stepping down, building blocks, stringing big wooden beads, signing like crazy and sometimes, he even speaks. It's interesting how he seems to make no distinction between signing and speaking.

"Can you say cat?" He'll sign "cat."
"Can you say cracker?" He'll sign "cracker."
"Can you say Daddy?" He'll say "da da."
"Can you say mouse?" He'll sign "mouse."
"Can you say car?" He'll sign "car."
"Can you say Mommy?" He'll say "ma ma."
??

Milestones

- first time he dipped his hand in toilet water (July 27, 2008)
- discovered the joys of pulling as much toilet paper as possible from the roll
- can stack his blocks 15 high -- higher than his sitting position
- can step up and down on his own as long as it is not too high
- can bend from the waist to look at something more intently
- can squat up and down unaided
- now saying uh-oh and for some reason "Aiya"
- "no" accompanied by shaking head, and sometimes accompanied by the "no" sign, is cropping up in conversation with remarkable frequency
- creating his own signs (when asked whether he wanted "more" or "all done" he did a combination of the two thereby confounding his mother)
- more signs: car, cat, mouse, play, squirrel, cracker, swing, shoes, cookie
- inventing his own play (he discovered that by turning one of his play tunnels on its side that it would serve as a basket for the ball)
- now eating pretty much anything handed his way
- discovered blueberries and cherries
- eating corn on the cob!
- now preferring his left hand for feeding again
- transitioning from sippy cup to cup
- three, count them, three ear infections so far

With the language skills developing so quickly, now is also the time to start really watching our language. The other day he intentionally dropped his sippy cup over the side of his high chair and he said "no, no, no" with index finger wagging. Someone at daycare must have said that to him because neither one of us does that.

And finally, we seem to have a bit of a routine happening. He sleeps about 10 hours a night in his own bed. When he gets up at 6:30 am, he gets fetched from his crib and brought over for cuddle time with us on the big bed. Then he plays a bit before we get him ready for his 8 am breakfast. We drop him off at his daycare by about 9:30 or 10 am.

Now, if we can only wean the guy.

Mountains

Ontario has cute mountains.

We spent a very nice weekend at Blue Mountain, just a short ride away from Toronto. On Saturday morning, as we were strolling around the village, I finally got a chance to look at the ski hill.

"Look Dex, you can see all the way to the top of Ontario mountains. How cute. And look, they have trees at the summit. Isn't that quaint?"

"And that's why we hate Western Canadians," said Dex's dad.

Here's a picture of us with the "mountain" behind us.

Just say no

The word "no" seems to be here to stay. He's discovered the power of the word and he is using it indiscriminately. Even when he means yes. I think this makes him officially a toddler.

"Would you like more breakfast," I'd ask.

"NO," he'd say but open his mouth for another bite.

The other day, after dinner, he was playing with his blocks and I ever so gently suggested if, perhaps, my little darling Dex would like to go upstairs and get changed into his pajamas and get ready for bed.

"NO," he said emphatically, accompanied by a vigorous shake of the head and an equally emphatic sign for "no" -- I guess, just in case I didn't understand him or something -- as he kept stacking his blocks. He looked me straight in the eye, too, just to make sure that he got his message across.

I've already been told that the "No" stage is followed by the "Why?" stage so I am bracing myself for that.

Take a load off

Shorts. T-shirts. Pajamas. Bibs. Wash cloths. That's laundry for us these days. No, no, I don't mean that's what the laundry contains. I mean that's how I sort laundry these days -- by article of clothing rather than by colours. There is so much laundry!

Now that he is more active, I have to change his outfits several times a day. Second change is after breakfast (first outfit change is from pajamas to day clothes). The post-breakfast blueberry or cherry juice is simply impossible to dab out of that shirt. Between drool, food spillage and dirt, a steady change of outfit is required throughout the day. And let's not forget the towels. He needs one after bathtime, after the water park, after the playground.

It's funny how even our laundry needs have changed over time. Back in the old days, I used to wash blankets, onesies and sleepers daily to keep up with Dex's burping and spit ups. Now I hardly need to wash these types of items anymore. It's the activewear that need attention.

I must be procrastinating or something because I can't believe I'm blogging about laundry.

The cob web post

You know it's officially summer when the first batch of local corn arrive at the neighbourhood market. Last Monday at dinner, I was feeding Dex corn kernels that I've carefully shaved off the cob, a tedious job next only to peeling grapes. He kept wanting more and more so I thought, hey, let's just see what he can do if I hold it up to his mouth. He took a tentative bite, followed by another, then another, which then led into a frantic munch. I got tired of holding the cob so I got him to hold it and wow, did he ever go to town after that. That was fun to watch. Here's some feeding pictures during and after. My little dear, wait until you taste Taber corn!