Desmond is 21 Months Old!

I'm only a little over a week late on this one, so let's go all-out, shall we?

Teeth: Officially no new teeth, since those top canines poked through just before he hit 20 months. But they've been making their way down this month, and that has occasionally been an issue for our poor Desmo. A little orajel usually makes everything right again.

Height: We really need to measure him again (see below about his "Gumby phase"), but he's definitely getting taller.

Weight: Still holding strong right around 31 pounds, which means he's gained about 1-2 pounds in the last 4-6 months.  Yet he gets taller. (See? Gumby.)

Sleep: We made one pitiful attempt to take away Desmond's pacifier. He screamed bloody murder for an hour, but we held firm.  Then he dove head-first out of his crib for the pacifier, and we opted for poor dentition over potential head injury. He's developed the unfortunate habit of waking up in the middle of the night, but he is still mostly a good sleeper.

Food: Desmond is officially in his "Gumby Phase," as Dennis likes to call it.  He's growing taller and getting thinner, staying at almost exactly the same weight throughout.  This phase comes with a decreased appetite, and Desmond is no exception. His former love, broccoli, is still acceptable but doesn't get devoured the way it once did. Still, he generally prefers vegetables to fruit. Protein usually comes in the form of scrambled eggs or picking sausages off the top of a pizza.  Also? The kid likes yogurt.

Words: Forget words, how about SENTENCES?! Desmond has made huge strides in the few months he's been talking. Now that he has it figured out, he uses his words for almost everything. Usually it's a 2-word sentence like "Mommy scoot!" - wanting me to push him toward the table in his chair. But occasionally we'll get a 3-word one like "No pushing, Dexter!" or "Dexter pushed me!"

Also awesome? Desmond saying his name.  Even though he clearly uses the initial D in "Dexter" ("Dah-tuh") and "Daddy" (pronounced correctly), he doesn't use it when speaking his own name, which sounds a lot like "Emmett" when he says it. Eh. Emmett is a cute name. :)

Books: Desmond does still love books. We try to make time for books during the day, because he wants to read a dozen after bath every night, when he really should be going to sleep. Mystery in Bugtown is still pretty big. Frosty the Snowman (in the form of a board book) is also a huge hit lately.

TV: OK, he LOVES Kung-Fu Panda, and yes, we watch it a lot. Most weeknights, his TV is limited to about 30 or 45 minutes. Weekends he gets at least one full viewing of Panda or another movie. (Dexter is quite fed up with all of this Panda-watching, so we're trying to have them take turns and/or find good compromise movies they can both tolerate.)

Phone: His other love. We're in that phase where he can't even see a phone without wanting to play with it. "Phone" is pronounced "Foam," and he knows where to find his favorite games - Monkey Preschool Lunchbox and the First Words series.  In Monkey Preschool Lunchbox (affectionately known as "monkey"), he is freakishly good at the memory game. I mean, freakishly good.  There are 4 pair, and he is sometimes able to match all 4 on his own in just a couple of minutes.  Sometimes he needs help getting one of the pair, then he goes to town on the other three. I mean, is this boy a genius or is he a supergenius? Only time will tell.

Colors: The boy just refused for months to learn all of his colors. First, everything was blue. Then, sometimes, things might be yellow or green (except it was just random color words he was spitting out - the thing may or may not have been blue or yellow or green).  But he's made some strides in the last week. I'd say he has blue, yellow, and orange down for sure. Pink and purple are kindof interchangeable, especially in the lighter shades. But the bizarre thing is that he is consistently wrong on red and green.  I am so hoping we aren't looking at a red/green color deficiency.  Certainly, there are worse things in the world, but that'd be a bummer for the poor boy. No history of color vision deficiency in the families, though, so it's more likely he's just a 21-month-old who isn't bothering to learn his colors. 

Other Likes & Dislikes: Bathtime continues to be hit or miss - mostly miss in the last week or so. I think we might be starting bath too late, and he's just overtired.  He's also usually pissed at us because we just turned the TV off to go start everyone's bath. :)  He still loves going outside and running around. And encouraging other people to run with him - "Running, Mom!"  The pool was big for most of the summer, but they both seem less interested in it lately.

He usually likes playing with Dexter. They do really well, but eventually Dexter gets too rough, and Desmond gets upset.  They're back at it pretty quickly, though.  Climbing is a lot of fun. Tunnels are great, as is bouncing on the bed and hiding from Mom & Dad (some favorite spots: Dexter's closet, the closet in the office, Mom & Dad's bathroom, and behind the curtain in the breakfast area).

His favorite person in the world continues to be Pop. If Pop is not around, he'll accept Dad, then maybe Mom.  Mom is also called upon if Dad is not caving to his toddler-y demands.


Yep. 21-month-old Desmond is doing GREAT! Happy, healthy, chatty, fun, and with 14 out of 20 teeth. :)