20 months

I've noticed while washing his sippy cup lately that it's showing signs of wear -- the painted image of a sea turtle is flaking off, the rubber on the tip cracked and worn, the handles sporting scratches, etc. -- and thought, I really should get him another one. But last night, the light bulb went off in my head! Wait a minute...why, these signs of degradation are not from normal use, but the deliberate work of a saboteur (I see teeth and fingernail marks!). And then I realized, OMG, he's been trying to tell us something. He hates his sippy cup! He's tired of it. It's too baby-ish. He's trying to say "hello, people, I can drink from a glass, you know." And yes, that's just one of the signs that my baby is turning into a little boy. He's 20 months now, you know.

He's figured out that he can no longer stand under the dining table without hitting his head. He's getting too tall. In fact, his eye level is above the table which means we really should remove any tempting objects lest he decides it's worthwhile to climb a chair to help himself. This also means I can no longer make things "disappear" by moving it to the closest horizontal surface. He's getting too tall and clever for that. He can move furniture and he knows all about object permanence, you know.

He can tell stories. One night, when his grandparents were here for Thanksgiving, we walked home, met dogs and looked at the moon. Now, weeks later, he still tells me about that. Of course it comes out as "Poppa, Nana, doggie, ears (he touched the dog's ears), gentle, soft, moon." We know what he's trying to say because of the expression of joy and wonder in his face as he's speaking and signing the words. Every night now, he insists on looking out the window before bed to see the moon. When he can't see it, he says and signs "where?" And then he'll say, "hiding, clouds" because we told him the moon is still there, we just can't see it because it's behind the clouds.

He reads along and sings along.

Us: "In the great green..."
Dex:"..room"
Us: "...there was a telephone and a red..."
Dex: "...balloon..."
Us: "...and a picture o..."
Dex: "...cow..."
Us: "...jumping over th-..."
Dex: "...moon."
and so on and so forth.

It is also very funny to hear him complete the chorus of the songs we are singing. One of these days I'll post a wave file of that.

He's growing up. His language skills are very good and I am absolutely amazed at the exponential progress on the physical, verbal, and social front. He can, among other things, and in no particular order:

- run (usually away from us rather than towards)
- kick a ball (with greater and greater control)
- sip from a straw
- drink from a cup or a glass
- identify lots of things: animals in his picture books, fruits and vegetables, everyday objects, construction vehicles, etc.
- speak in sentences, occasionally
- finish stories
- tell stories
- swear a little
- animate toys (make them do things rather than doing things for them -- articulate teddy bear limbs, push a picture of a car on the floor to make it move forward while making car sound effects, etc.)
- say Daddy instead of Dada and Mommy instead of Momma
- freestyle breastfeeding (our term for when he assumes various weird non-traditional nursing positions -- let's leave it at that, shall we?)

He now has 16 teeth -- that's almost a full set. By the time he's three he should have 20 teeth. Theoretically, he should have an entire year to grow another set of four molars, however knowing his pattern, he'll sprout the next four molars in the next few weeks. (He's drooling big time again these days.)

On the emotional front, lots of changes there, too. He's adjusted quite well to being in the toddler room. He still loves visiting his infant teachers and runs over to give them a hug when he sees them in the corridors of the daycare. But he knows he's with a new class now and he loves it. The report from Daddy is that when he drops him off, he is now as likely to run towards a group of kids (because of course we're always late for playground time!) as much as he is interested in running to the teachers.

Some emotional adjustments are also becoming evident. Now that he knows he can influence outcomes (as noted last month), he is likely to protest or resist when he does not want to do something. We call these episodes tantrums.

As well, he is showing signs of possessiveness. Last weekend, we had friends over when we carved a pumpkin. We just got Dex his first pair of snowboots that morning and when our friends tried it on their son, Russell, well -- Dex did not like that very much. There was an "episode" (please see paragraph above.)

But overall, things are going well. He is a healthy, happy, bright boy and I can't believe he is growing so quickly. Only four more months and he'll be two! Yikes. Where did the time go?

Echo

We really, really need to watch our language these days.

Yesterday, Jon was setting the dinner table while Dex and I were playing on the floor. Jon must have done something or forgotten something from the kitchen and he said "Oh, crap." Almost immediately, one little blockmaker said "oh, crap." I tried not to laugh. I was not successful.

And then there was the time when I was cleaning his shoes. When he plays in the sandbox, he gets sand everywhere and I mean everywhere. I usually like to remove his shoes outside the house and give it a good shake to minimize the trail of grit on the floor. I was there shaking one shoe saying "look at this -- god, look at all this sand" as a steady stream of the stuff poured from his runners. And, of course, Dex imitated me. He removed his other shoe and was pounding it on the floor, shaking it while saying "god, oh god."

First sentence

We were playing with his blocks two days ago and he said "Here, I'll show you" as he picked up a piece and connected it to another. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what he said. I tried to get him to repeat it, but he wouldn't. First sentence or product of my fertile imagination? Don't know. Jon is positive it's the latter but what does he know? I think he's just jealous because he had a dream when Dex was just a wee baby that the first sentence Dex said was "I'm wearing blue."

Cold turkey

Yes! I remembered the cranberry sauce. I put it on the table as we were setting it, which -- duh -- makes so much sense, I don't know why I never, ever did that before. That's the good news. The un-good news is that I was slightly disappointed with this year's sauce. I let it boil down a little more than usual so it had a more jelly consistency than the jammy one I prefer. Oh well. I can always use the boy as an excuse. He "helped" me with the preparations. He helped me wash the cranberries and helped me place them in the saucepan. He also insisted on supervising the rest of the sauce-making process which made it difficult for me to move around.

Thanksgiving dinner was very nice. The turkey was perfect and my timing was even pretty good. I had everything ready for a 6:30 dinner. Of course, the last 30 minutes of that was slightly chaotic but that's the thing with a turkey dinner. I find that no matter how prepared I am, everything comes together in the last 20 minutes as the turkey comes out, gets carved and as gravy gets made. Those movie scenes where the table is all nicely set and the bird is ceremonially carved at the table? It never ever made sense to me. When I see that scene I think some of those vegetables must be awfully cold by the time you get that turkey carved and passed around.

Despite our best efforts, lots of turkey leftovers today. Turkey barley soup and turkey pot pies will get made tomorrow so I can get some much needed fridge space again. Dex loved the turkey (dark meat especially) and he loved the squash and stuffing. Not too fond of that pumpkin pie, but that's okay. He was happy with an apple for dessert.

Thanksgiving

We are having a nice visit with Poppa and Nana this Thanksgiving weekend.

The cranberry sauce has been made and hopefully, today is the first Thanksgiving I remember to bring it to the table for the meal. The cranberry sauce is the first thing I make for Thanksgiving and inevitably, the one thing I forget to take to the table in the frenzied preparations for dinner.

Right now, I can smell the turkey cooking and the giblets simmering on the stove. Jon and his dad are out running around looking for squash and potatoes (apparently potatoes are hard to get this year). Dex fell asleep on the stroller on his way home from the park and rather than move him, he is out in front of the house being watched by grandma who is sitting on a Muskoka chair reading a book.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Toronto and we are thankful for family and good health. I was also going to add good fortune, but the last few weeks have actually put a major dent in that little nest egg of ours. Oh well. There may be tough times ahead, but we will always have family and that is all we need. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Purple plums

Dexter's teacher said that the kids were given a choice of cookie or plums for Friday afternoon and all the kids just went crazy for the fruit. I mean, sure, they had some of that homemade cookie, but they just loved the plums. These kids are already making healthy choices at a young age. That's the kind of thing I like to hear and it reassures me once again that we made the right choice in daycare.

If a kid has to go to daycare, Dexter's daycare should be the standard for childcare in Canada and I can't believe it is not. Of course by standard, I mean the quality of care NOT the cost, because I realize the (unsubsidized) cost is prohibitive to most families. Correction then: high quality, affordable daycare should be the standard in Canada. And I really think a family should not have to wait a year to get into a good program.

You can probably tell that the childcare issue is top of mind for me these days. On October 14, election day, you can bet my voting decision will be based on the strength of the party's stand on childcare.

Jinxed

Right after I posted Dexter's 19-month update, that ear infection crept in. Poor Dex had a rough night last night. Fourth ear infection in 19 months. Sigh.