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?