20 Months

 Twenty months seems so old - for a baby.  It feels like "almost two" more than "one and a half".  So what's new?

His language is still growing by leaps and bounds.  He's stringing together words and ideas.  He pops up with words that I don't recall teaching him or only saying in front of him one or two times.  He is speaking more and more clearly - which is great for our comprehension, but sad for me because it's like he's shedding his babyhood.  Kecko is becoming Queso.  Fort is becoming Horse.

Of course there are still words that aren't clear - in fact there are a few that are a complete mystery.  The one that has us completely stumped is "Kikos".  After each meal, when he is finished and wants to get down from his high chair he will say "Coopee Kikos".  I know "coopee" means excuse me, but I have NO idea what "kikos" means.  Hopefully it will be clearer in a few weeks.

A dream come true

 He's starting to get some air when he jumps. For a long time he would just lift one leg to "jump", then he began just bouncing his knees - but just recently he's been able to lift both feet off the ground.

He can get through the ABCs with about a 75% rate of success and counts to ten - usually skipping four and preferring to stop at six.  "One, too, tree, five, six!"

Morning Commute

He's chilled out considerably with the aggressive hugging.  He also went through a phase where he didn't like it if jb and I kissed or hugged and would try to push us apart - thankfully that's over also.  He does still try to ride the dog - but we're working on it.  He's also walking for longer spurts - which is great because he is getting HEA-VY.

Hi Daddy!

His sense of humor is starting to come through.  He LOVES hiding and will giggle under the covers until we find him.  One time I pretended I didn't know he was under the blanket and said "I'm just going to lay down here on the bed until we find him..." and laid down (gently) on top of him and so now there's always a little voice saying "lay down! lay down!" coming from under the blanket.  Or if I wonder aloud where he could be he will answer "Zoo!" or "Picksburg!"

He will also say things like, "Monkey says Moooo....Noooooo!" to be silly.  Or sing "It's raining, it's pouring, MAMA! is snoring".  It's kind of cool to hear his first jokes.

Digging for lint

He is pretty aware of the baby in my belly and seems to be excited.  He accompanies us to midwife appointments and listens intently to the doppler - and when the baby moves it makes this swoosh (ploop, as Leo calls it) sound which we guessed might translate to "Hi big brother!"  The other day he was playing on his own and I overheard him saying "midwife...listen baby...ploop...hi big brother".  Heart melted.

Another day he was helping me put lotion on my legs and he said "Mama lay down, put it baby" and rubbed lotion on my belly.  We also sing "I love my..." and he will fill in a word like "mama" or "daddy" and he has recently started filling in "baby" - which also melts me.  I should note that he also fills in "tuna" at an equal rate, so I guess I should take that into consideration.  Of course, the kid does love his tuna.

Kicking back with a good book

His sleeping habits were a wreck after the holidays due mostly to late night parties and festivities.  Luckily, we seem to be getting back on track.  This is especially good because since I am napping with him every day these days (I'm exhausted!!), having him stay up until ten or eleven meant I wasn't getting many moments to myself.

We were graced with some gorgeous (possibly apocalyptic) weather lately and since I've been feeling a lot better we have been out and about and walking a lot more - which has helped me feel even better.  Of course since it's been more exercise than I've gotten in the last three months combined, I've also been very sore.  Now the cold is settling in so we are going to have to find indoor ways to get out of the house - luckily we got a membership to the Please Touch Museum for Christmas, so I think we will get some good use out of that!