Let's do the rundown, shall we?
Teeth - we are up to EIGHT! Nice and symmetrical now - 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. The 8th one is barely poking through, but it's there.
Weight - ??? I keep meaning to weigh the kid at home, but then I forget in our 10 free minutes between dinner and bath. He isn't light.
Height - I'm sure we're all shocked to learn that Desmond is tall. He is a tall boy. And somehow, a good chunk of that is torso. Snapping the 24m onesies is a struggle now. (4 days ago, he was wearing the same onesie that Dexter is wearing in his 15m picture, and it was clearly the last time it was getting worn.) Desmond does have quite a little tummy for the shirts to stretch over, though, so maybe that's a contributing factor. But yeah, he's tall.
Sleep - I don't want to jinx myself. He's been doing SO WELL. Like 12-13 hours/night well. Getting big and getting teeth must be exhausting.
Food - Sliced carrots are probably his absolute favorite. (Tonight, he ate an entire can of sliced carrots by himself. Yeah.) That would be pretty closely followed by any bread or bread-like item (waffles, breadsticks, bagels, and pancakes are all big), and broccoli. He isn't a big fruit fan, but he'll sometimes eat some - usually sliced peaches or mandarin oranges.
In other food news, Desmond's very last bottle was January 22. He had been having bottles at bedtime only for a few weeks, but now that he's eating much better, we felt like he would be OK without the bedtime bottle. And so far, he seems to be. It was more habit than anything else, and he is a resilient guy. I think his orthodontist will thank me (or hate me) later.
Signs - He *can* sign "more" and "eat," but he usually chooses to point and whine instead. He's still little enough that it's still kindof cute. He does sign "done" after dinner. But he still keeps eating until we take the food away. He also knows and uses "bath."
Words - No huge progress here. He has a lot of different sounds that he seems to think are very meaningful. But mostly, it's "aaaTTH" or "aaaCK." He says "ite" for light (we think). I would almost swear he says "ish" for "fish," but I"m not 100% sure yet. He started saying "uh-oh!" again in the last few days, which is nice, since he had quit doing that for a while. So, if we're in the mood to be pretty generous, he has 4 or 5 words.
In any case, he finds a way to communicate. He knows we understand it when he goes to the high chair and lifts his leg like he wants to get in. (He also tries to do a pull-up on the thing. It's still quite a bit over his head. He's hilarious.)
Or when he walks over to the crib and looks up at you like, "Well? Are you going to put me in there or what?"
Or when he goes to the refrigerator and looks at you like "Ahem! Milk, please!"
Or when he brings you his coat, or just gets it and stands by the door.
Did I mention he is a genius?
Tricks - Desmond impresses all who meet him with his mastery of animal sounds. OK, not really, but he has some cuties:
- Elephant - raises one arm for the elephant's trunk, but he doesn't make an actual sound.
- Dog - "Woof!"
- Monkey - rubs his tummy up and down like a monkey scratching his sides. But he doesn't make any sounds.
- Chicken - rubs his tummy up and down because that's as close as he gets to a chicken flapping its wings. Again, no sound.
- (We'll note here that his Monkey and Chicken impressions are the same as the sign for "bath."
- Cow - "oooooo"
- Duck - opens and closes his mouth but makes no noise. Not sure where that came from.
- Horse - "ayyyy" (which is supposed to be "neiiiigh," I believe.)
- Tiger/Bear/Lion - "arrrr," with hands in the air like bear claws
- Sheep - "aaaah" (not terribly consistent with this one yet)
He's surprisingly good with the Sit-N-Spin, and he's about 50/50 on the shape sorter. (Dear shape sorter designers - it's probably better if the star doesn't actually fit through the circle hole. OK? Ok.)
Motor - HA! This kid is running!
Books - Books are probably Desmond's favorite thing ever. He'll dig through the toy bin until he finds a book, then he'll bring it to you to read to him. If you're sitting on the floor, he'll back up to you so he can sit in your lap while you read to him. I don't know that he has a lot of favorites. We often read Ten Friendly Fish and Millie Moo. Mr. Brown Can Moo is also a regular in the rotation. Hippos Go Berserk is another. The last few nights, he's been asking to look at the book versions of Dumbo and Thumper. He just likes to turn the pages and look at the pictures. We're working on learning what an owl says.
Likes & Dislikes - Hmm. Desmond went through a phase for a few weeks there where he didn't like bath. As in, bath was about 30 seconds long (or however quickly we could do the most basic bathing), and he screamed the whole time. I think we were just starting bath too late, though, and he was really just tired. We started bath earlier this week (closer to 7:15), and it has gone better. Diaper changes are no fun, either.
I mentioned his love of books, which has his parents very excited. He also loves playing chase and being outside, even though it is every bit of winter out there. (This weekend, the snow was up above his little knees. SO glad we got him some good snow pants!) He loves sledding down the hill in the back yard and gets very impatient if you wait very long at the top of the hill. (And he does like to go fast, sitting on Mom's or Dad's lap on the sled.) Sadly, he also likes TV, which is a sometimes necessity in this house.
Again - likes carrots, broccoli, other vegetables; dislikes bananas, other fruits. Generally, he does like to eat. Big meals, lots of snacks.
Oh, and he likes Dexter. Somehow, he even seems to like Dexter mere moments after Dexter has, say, whacked him on the head with a toy airplane. But they really are hilarious when they make googly eyes at each other across the dinner table.
With 12 more teeth to go, he still very much likes chewing on things. Also fun? Playing chase! He just giggles and giggles. And peek-a-boo! (Where's Desmond?! THERE HE IS!!!)
