21 Months Old

 

Ben is in a really fun period of development right now. He is learning so much and talking almost all the time (except when we have webchats or try to get him to talk on the phone). At 21 months (plus a little...), Ben:

• Dances and stomps around joyfully and sometimes sings.
• Likes books about trains and has rediscovered the lovely picture book Dimity Duck. He particularly likes the "Surprise!" scene where the frog & duck play peek-a-boo. It's one of my favorite children's books too.
• Is going through a wicked period of teething. I got him a new teether advertised as "for back teeth" in desperate hope that he will chew on that and leave his poor stuffed animals alone. They have been chewed and slobbered on so much, they're disgusting! We have been washing them frequently & also have a backup Teddy (thanks, Mom!). We also finally got a look at his incisors which came in last month and they are SO sharp-looking! I'm not sure if those are still descending or his molars are coming in, but those must've really hurt coming in. As you can see from the picture below, his chin breaks out from all the drooling.

• Identifies several favorite songs in the first few phrases and will yell out his name for the song. It's really kind of crazy. Maybe this tells you a little about how many times we've listened to Kermit and Jimmy Buffett sing "Caribbean Amphibian" ("FWOG!"), "Do-Re-Mi" (or "re-mi-do" as Ben insists on calling it), and "Rubber Duckie" ("Ewnie!"). We've added some new songs onto his iPod playlists so hopefully we won't go nuts!
• Loves trying to jump but hasn't quite grasped the concept that feet have to leave the ground...
• Loves animals, especially puppies, whether in person, in books, or on TV. He was distraught on our walk the other day when he saw a tiny puppy, got distracted for a minute, and looked back to find out the puppy's owner had taken it back inside their house. He stood on their driveway asking, "Puppy? Puppy?"
• Likes the new kid-sized table and chairs we got for him a few weeks ago.
• Still loves Giada. He wanted to run up and down the block again this afternoon and was fighting going back to the garage after a short walk. I reminded him we'd get to see Giada's pictures in her section at Target and he was more compliant. When we got to the store, he immediately started asking, "Gida? Gida?"

• Still eats like he's got 2 hollow legs.
• Thinks the most random things are hilarious. Today it was a cartoon of Peanuts characters bowling. He was freaking out and yelling with delight every time they tossed the ball!
• Doesn't like the sound of the vacuum.
• Must announce whenever he hears an airplane. Also frequently points out motorcycles, trucks, cars, and birds. Sometimes we can hear them too.
• Is talking like crazy and most things are understandable to us. We've taught him to say thank you and it's so sweet when he spontaneously says, "Tank you, Mommy" or "Tank you, Daddy." He often says something that sounds like, "More hem" at bedtime and seems to be pointing toward the bathroom. We are baffled as to what that means.
• Has been taking a while to get to sleep each night. He fusses for a few minutes, then we hear him randomly talking to himself. Sometimes he counts, says letters, or people's names ("Yay, Tony!" "Opa!")
• Likes to hear people talking to him on the phone and is getting a little better at actually saying hi but rarely says much else.
• Almost always asks to go for a walk when we get home in the evenings. Sometimes he gets mad when we finish the walk and tell him it's time to go inside, even with the promise of dinner.