Desmond is 2!

TWO! It feels like he's been 2 for a long time, probably because he's so brilliant and polite and big and strong and generally very advanced for a two-year-old. (I might be just a little bit biased

I've also been noticing lately what an even-keeled kid he is, especially considering his age. He certainly still gets upset sometimes - if you take away a toy, or if you put him in the bathtub before he's ready - but overall, he doesn't tend to get upset over nothing. He only hits back (and rarely even does that, not that it's ever okay, but, you know, he's 2). He (usually) eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's tired. He is pretty good about "please" and "thank you."

He's not a big snuggler. Never has been, really, but it's getting a little more obvious now. Sometimes at night he'll ask to be rocked, but he won't snuggle against your chest. He turns around and faces out and says "Like DAT!" He'll lie back against you, but that's as good as it gets. BUT, while he will very rarely snuggle, he is very free with his kisses. They are really sweet kisses, too.

This year, his birthday happened to fall on Thanksgiving. So Grandma made him a cake. A PANDA CAKE!!!

He tried really hard to blow out the candles, but his aim just isn't quite there, yet.


Teeth: Still no new teeth. I'd kindof like to get this over with, already. (Hellooooo molars! They call you two-year-molars for a reason! Chop chop.)

Height: Unofficial height: 36.75" Per the wall chart, he's grown 2.25" in six months.


Weight: Unofficial weight: ~32.5 pounds.
Still thinning out a bit, but those chubby little baby cheeks are stubbornly and very cutely sticking around. Like every toddler, his appetite waxes and wanes. In the last couple of days, he has been eating a LOT. Like, full dinners, plus snacks. Then he'll call you into his room a little while after lights out:
Us: You want to rock rock?
Desmo: No. Dinner.
Us: Dinner?
Desmo: Eat... dinner.

So far, we've managed to convince him to wait patiently while we get him a banana, which he devours before heading back to bed, usually for the night.


Sleep: He's pretty consistently good for about 10 hours at night with a 2 hour nap (give or take) during the day. Getting out of the crib on his own is pretty much his routine now, but he's still very willing to sleep and/or stay in the crib. Sometimes he practically sells his soul to do so, since that's the only place he's allowed to have his pacifier. If he drops the pacifier, or wants a book or something, Independent Boy will climb out and get it, then call you to put him back into the crib, since he can't quite make it back in by himself just yet.

Still, the kid knows when he's tired and (with incredibly few exceptions) doesn't fight it too hard. (If he is even remotely tired, he is no match for a moving car. We don't go for drives just to make him sleep, but if we happen to be in the car around naptime, he is out.)


Food: WAFFLES! Good god. I didn't think we would be eating food by the box until they hit puberty. But I'm starting to wish for industrial-size home delivery of frozen waffles. And eggs (one dozen per family breakfast). And milk (2+ gallons per week). I'm sure when they are 13, I will laugh and laugh at how I thought this was us going through a lot of food.

He's still good on variety, willingly eating many kinds of meats, vegetables, dairy, and fruits. So we don't worry too much about the disproportionate amount of frozen waffles in his diet.


Words: I've been forgetting to mention his funny and adorable language pattern with predicates. He's almost Yoda-like. Instead of "Eat yogurt," it's "Eat it, yogurt." (Well, "yoyurt," but you get it.) He is very consistent, no matter what "it" is.
"Drop(ped) it, fork."
"Read it, book?"
"Watch it, Yo Yo Gabba."
"Get it, toothpaste?"
"Wash it, hands."
"Get 'im, Dehtah" (The only real variation on "it" is "him," and only in this context.)

Books: Good Morning, Sun and its creepy humanoid sun face is still heavy in the rotation, but now he doesn't bother with those other animals. It's just "Good Morning, Sun?" and then, "Find it, cow." Then he goes immediately to the page with the cow, opens the barn door to see the cow, and says, "Mooooooo." It's pretty cute and almost makes the creepy humanoid sun face bearable.

Dennis just got him a new book about dinosaurs - a *real* educational book about *real* dinosaurs. So far, he just likes putting his finger on the dinosaurs' teeth, saying "ow!" and pulling his finger away. Surely some of the (presumably) scientifcally accurate dinosaur info is filtering through, though, and will continue to do so as he is more willing to explore the book's pages instead of just finding dinosaurs with teeth.


TV: Still loving TV. Favorites are Yo Gabba Gabba ("Yo Yo Gabba"), Dinosaur Train, and anything Elmo. Panda is still acceptable, as is Fish (Finding Nemo), Thomas, Bob the Builder, and a few others. He's not as willing as he once was to sit still for a longer show or movie, though. I'll take this as a good sign that he won't be a couch potato suffering from obesity at age 6. I'm happy to say that, while he still asks for TV a lot - and the phone. My god, don't even try to use a phone in front of the kid unless you are willing to surrender it or listen to a very upset kid - he is (mostly) just as willing to quit watching TV to go outside, or ride bikes in the basement, or play with trains, or just run around the house.

TV time is the only time you can trick him into snuggling with you, though, so I'm selfishly OK with some TV time for him. :)


Smarts: Colors are just about there. FINALLY!!! He'll still sometimes mix up pink and purple. Occasionally red and green are still confused. Black and white, too. But he's right about 95% of the time now, so I'm going to call that good.

He also counts - 1, 2, 3! The first time I heard him do this, there actually were 3 things he was counting, so I was pretty impressed. Since then, he's shown that everything countable has 3 things. And don't try to convince him otherwise. Once, mention of "4" sent him to sad little tears. Poor baby.  I think he'll change his mind about 4 really soon.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Have I mentioned his dinosaur pajamas? These are his favorite pajamas. He isn't upset when they are not there, but they are always the first choice if they're available, never lasting overnight in the pajama drawer. Unfortunately, they are size 24m, and they are getting a little tight. . That isn't stopping him yet, and I don't have the heart to take them away, either, so I won't until the situation gets pretty dire. I even tried to find them in a bigger size, but of course they haven't been made for about 2+ years, so they don't exist anymore. I guess it's a lesson he'd have to learn eventually, but he just has so few things that he (and only he) really likes that I wanted him to have that for a while longer.

Also, guess which boy genius can now pedal his tricycle just like a big boy?! He is so smart. :)

Desmond is 23 Months Old!

So big!

And happy! Most of the time, anyway. Being almost 2 still has its inherent challenges.

Teeth: Still 16. No sign of those last 4 molars yet.

Height: Tall. Judging from the way he fits into the clothes we've pulled out for winter, he's considerably taller than Dexter was at 23m. He's also the tallest in his class (and the oldest, so maybe that's not so surprising).

Weight: If anything, he's lost a few ounces this month, thanks to what we hope is just a standard toddler-esque finicky appetite. (see below)

Sleep: Much better than last month, maybe because that last canine is mostly through now. He has now realized, though, that he is able to climb out of the crib. Mostly, he only does this in the morning when it really is time to get up. On two occasions (so far), he has gotten out because he didn't want to nap. The most recent time, I put him back in his crib, and he just stayed there, upset, until he fell asleep. Please, if there is a god, let her keep the boy in his crib longer. A lot longer.

Food: Still hit or miss. He eats a good variety of food, just not too much of it, and not on our timetable. He will wander the house while the rest of us eat dinner, and be fine for the rest of the night. The next morning, though, the first thing we hear when he wakes up is"Behfist?" in his cute little squeaky voice. Waffles are still a favorite. He will pull them out of the freezer himself and eat them cold. (We do offer to toast them, but he apparently prefers them cold.) French fries ("Foo Fize") are also a big draw. We try to limit these and/or do baked ones at home so his arteries aren't completely clogged before kindergarten. But if he hasn't eaten much in a few meals, Foo Fize are a good bet to get him to the table.

Words: Desmond is dazzling us with his exploding vocabulary. He throws around 3-word sentences like there's no tomorow, often with very clear subjects, verbs, and objects. ("Alligator... bite... yooooouu" or "Not nice, Dehter!" or "Mow waffuh peese?")  "No!" is still very common, now often accompanied by a sincere stomp of his right foot. Interestingly, he isn't much on saying, "yes," even when the answer is yes. He'll just repeat what you say in a little high-pitched squeak and smile. ("Do you want more milk?" "Mouh meelgh?")

Books: Books are falling out of favor slightly, in that he isn't much interested in reading them during the day, and now he's so tired at night that he jumps at the chance to go to bed even if we've only done one book. Also? He likes to sleep with some books. Doesn't even really look at them, but he just wants them in the crib with him. If there are no books, he might climb out of the bed, get one, put it in the crib, then ask you to put him back in his crib (since he can climb out, but not back in). Fascinating.

TV: Yep. Still loves TV. "Watch... panda?" "Watch... fish?" "Watch... Yo Yo Gabba?" <-- that last one should be "Yo Gabba Gabba." Fun.  We'll just throw his love for iPhone games and videos on the computer in here, too. ("Mommy phoam?" "Daddy... phoam?") And yes, these things usually need to be fought over with his big brother.

Colors: Refuses to learn pink vs. purple and has regressed on white. (Black things are now "white.") Red and green are getting better, though.  We've tried to do some sorting by color, but he won't even sit still long enough for a demonstration. Stubborn.

Bikes: He still LOVES his tricycle! He and Dexter take turns on the big wheel and tricycle. Desmond still refuses to pedal with his feet. Apparently this is developmentally appropriate, but it's still frustrating because I really think he could do it if he would just listen to us for 10 seconds while we show him how. There was a lot of outdoor biking this month, and the basement is perfect for it on bad-weather days. I hope that continues to be a worthwhile activity as we go into winter.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Making messes, mostly. If he sees a neat pile of something, he can't resist scattering it about with whatever force necessary. He likes playing with the wooden trains and train tracks. So much so that he and Dexter sometimes get their own mini-loops, since taking turns is excruciating for both of them. He also loves driving cars around on the furniture and flying airplanes around the room. Very cute. :)

Jumping on Dexter's bed before bath and running around in his hooded towel after bath are both also seriously fun. He has a favorite bath towel - an alligator taking a shower. (Apparently it's actually a crocodile. We aren't going to correct him.) It's pretty sad when it's dirty, because flashing it will get him to cooperatively get out of the tub every time. And when you DO show it to him, his little face lights right up.

Another long-favorite? The penguin bath toy from this set. He's loved it for a loooooong time, but the toys are starting to get icky. It's going to be sad when we have to say goodbye to penguin.

Dislikes? Nothing specific. Hates everything when he chooses to (bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes, whatever) and loves them when he chooses to (again, bath, diaper, dinner, trains, tv, shoes.)  Sometimes we actually work up a sweat wrestling a diaper onto the kid because he's trying so hard to get away. Other times, he says, "New diapuh?" in that squeaky little smiley voice and lies perfectly still while we do the change.  It's the same for bath, food, various toys, getting dressed, everything. Part of being (almost. ALMOST!) 2, I guess.

Desmond is 22 Months Old!

And boy is 22 months VERY close to 2, in so many ways. He is more hilarious, more energetic, more verbal, and much much more opinionated, all in one increasingly tall package.

Teeth: ONE new tooth since last month!  His bottom right canine came in on or just before September 18.

Height: Still really tall. Holding out for his birthday for an official measurement.

Weight: If anything, he's lost a few ounces this month, thanks to what we hope is just a standard toddler-esque finicky appetite. (see below)

Sleep: I can't say this has been his best sleep month. In fact, it's probably one of his worst since infancy. Waking up once a night almost every night, often waking up his brother (and sometimes being awoken by his brother). He's also just started, in the last week or so, employing stall tactics at bedtime and naptime. Says he wants a song (often, the "burp burp" song - the one we sang to both boys while burping them as infants. An odd resurgence of that one, I think.) or "rock-rocks," but really he's just stalling. He used to be the kid that would tell you, "Naptime!" and now he is the kid who stalls.  Thank god he is still trapped in his crib, or none of us would ever get any sleep.

Food: Ugh. While we could usually count on him to eat 3 breakfasts if offered, he now refuses food (all kinds of food) often, and when we find something he IS willing to eat, we shovel as much of it into him as we can. Of course, that's the same food he refused the day before and will refuse again tomorrow. So it's not so much what food it is but what mood he's in at the time. He still drinks a lot of milk, which I suppose is better than nothing.


Words: Favorite new word? "Nope!"  It is pretty cute, I must say, even when he is refusing to do things he really needs to do (see "sleep" above). Strangers laugh when they overhear him saying it. He does string some sentences together, but we're still mostly just working with nouns and verbs. "Mom! Fish! Watch! Fish! TV! Please! Fish!" (That's "Mom, I want to watch Finding Nemo, please.") or "Mom! Fish! Eat! Fish! More fish? Please?" (That's "Mom, I would like some of those delicious vanilla goldfish grahams, please!") There is also the occasional adjective - "yucky" or "orange" (his favorite color, I do believe).

Books: This is another one of his stall tactics at bedtime.  He still does legitimately love his books, but lately he asks for more and more instead of going to bed. He still reads a lot of Frosty the Snowman, and we had a great rendition of "Moo, Baa, La La La" a few nights ago. He also really likes "Good Morning Sun," which is where we learned that he knows what a rooster says. ("Ca ca DOO doo!")  It's a good thing he is so cute saying all of the animal sounds, because that humanoid sun is pretty creepy, if you ask me. (Why are their favorite books always your least favorite?)

TV: We've given up all pretense of being a limited TV family. Now we just turn the thing on and sometimes leave it on. Interestingly, Panda has fallen somewhat out of favor. The new go-to is Finding Nemo, which is kindof putting a wrench into our Halloween and birthday plans (both were going to be Panda-esque). I am considering telling them that the TV is broken for a while, but then I'll just spend all of my time breaking up fights or putting people in time out, so I'm not quite sure if/when that will happen.

Phone: His love for the phone hasn't diminished at all in the last month. Nor do we really expect it to for a while, actually. Usually, he doesn't really want you - he just wants your phone.

Colors: Still being quite the stinker here, and I can't tell how much he actually knows and how much is just laziness.  He definitely gets orange every time, and I know he knows yellow and blue. Green and red are still hit or miss, and he often interchanges pink and purple for some reason. White and brown are pretty solid, too.

Other Likes & Dislikes: Play-doh is a new favorite activity.



He picks a color, tells one of us to "oh-pum-it?!" He gets the play-doh out of the container himself. Then you have to mush it for him to give him a flat (ish) palette for him to make various impressions with different cut-outs. He loves it, and it isn't TV, so we are all for that. 

Outside is still fun, but he'll often choose TV over outside. It's that time of year with schizophrenic weather, too, which makes it a little bit challenging to find the right wardrobe for outside play.

OH!!  Songs!  Desmond does love singing songs. Especially "FAST!" like "Foo foo FAST!" (That's "Little Bunny Foo Foo," sung very fast.) Other favorites are Wheels on the Bus, Baby Shark, and Itsy-Bitsy Spider, all of which naturally come with their own fabulous hand motions. What did we talk about at dinner before we spent it singing Baby Shark? I certainly don't know.

I'll close with a few more pictures from today, because whatever I write wont' come close to Desmond's cuteness. These also show his raw nose, since he has a cold that requires constant nose-wiping, and his recent too-short haircut. (Note to self and future stylists - going too short on this kid means spiky hair.)

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. :)

Desmond is 20 Months Old!

At least he was, as of July 24.  Today, it's September 3. I'm not even going to apologize anymore, because it's just sad.

I did get LOTS of pictures of him. And to make myself feel better about not blogging his stats, I'm going to put a lot of them in here. So there.


One thing - he definitely still has his gorgeous blue eyes!

And goofy expressions that make us laugh:

He hasn't quite mastered clean eating (despite his top canines popping through on July 23!):

And he still really likes TV. Kung Fu Panda (the original) is by far his favorite thing to watch, though he'll also accept Finding Nemo or Monsters, Inc.

So, that was our Desmond in July. Smart, sweet, funny, and incredibly handsome. But you already knew that. :)

Dexter is Two and 3/4!

Here it is! A Dexter update! 

I promised myself both kids would get monthly updates for their first two years. Then we'd see what happened.  Eh. this is what happened.

In a way that surprises almost no one, Dexter has become quite a force of nature. He is FULL OF ENERGY in the way most two-year-olds should be, and then some. He's also incredibly smart and very very funny.


...... Note that this is another blog post interrupted. Grrr.

Desmond is 19 Months Old!

'sup?
(Photo taken June 25, 2011.)

As I type, it is July 3. So I am only ... something like 9 days late posting this one. Which, comparatively speaking, is pretty awesome. 

The most exciting thing about Desmond's progress this month is just his explosion of personality (and words!) He does his own thing, talks to you (in a fashion), has definite evolving likes and dislikes, plays, and laughs.

Before we get to the good stuff, here are a few more pictures from June 25.  (I was out of town on June 24, so really, that one is not my fault!)  He was playing on the crib mattress on the floor in Dexter's closet. I mean, it was seriously fun.

I'm a sucker for those tiny lips!

Action shot!

FUN!

And now, the details:

Teeth: No new teeth. Sorry to start off with something so boring. We're still waiting on those canines.

Sleep: He still has the pacifier. ("ah-faw-uh") He loves it. He sleeps well. There's enough other sleep drama going on (::cough:: Dexter ::cough::) that we aren't tackling the pacifier issue just yet. It is so strange and amazing and awesome (the theme of today's musings, I suppose) to behold a child who willingly goes to sleep and sleeps well. He even takes naps! Will run down the hall saying "Nap! Nap!" when we say it's naptime. Craziness.

Food: No big changes here, though he seems a little less willing to try new things. He is also playing more games at the dinner table. Stuff along the lines of "Hey watch me while I be sneaky and throw this food on the floor! And my fork! And I'm going to knock my sippy cup over!" Except he's so freaking cute when he does it that it's tough to be angry at him.  But there is indeed a reason that there are TWO bath towels under his "eating chair."

Words: Holy explosion of words, Batman!  There are so many that I think I may stop counting as of today, and I'll put a separate post listing all of them. It's pretty awesome, though. (See? Awesome!)  I do think I figured out today that what we thought was "happy" is really "help me." Clearly, he's never been in real peril - we never looked at him stuck beneath a giant rock or something, saying "happy!" and we just smiled and said, "You're happy?! I'm happy, too! Everybody is happy!"

Mostly, though, he is surprisingly easy to understand, even for people who don't see him very often.

Books: Desmond still LOVES books and will ask you to read a book randomly in the middle of the day sometimes. Of course, bedtime books remain a staple.His favorite at the moment seems to be "Mystery in Bugtown." He mostly just flips through it, tells us who is sad, then talks about all of the bugs listed in the back. (Ant, Bee, Cricket, Grasshopper, Centipede, Spider, Slug, Cockroach, Ladybug, Katydid... maybe some others.)  And then he tells us that the little bug on the last page is "running." (which he is!)  It's really cute. Awesome, even. :)

TV: Desmond does love TV, too. I'm not sure what would win in a book vs. TV contest, but it's sadly probably the TV. If he hears mention of any of their movies ("Monsters," "Fish," "Two Frogs," or "Panda"), he is in his favorite TV-watching spot before you can finish your sentence. It's seriously a case in which we watch what we say, because something like, "After lunch, we can watch TV" will turn lunchtime into a whinefest.

Speaking of TV, his favorite thing lately is Kung-Fu Panda. (The original one.) We realized today that he says "Pee-ba!" ("Panda") when he wants to watch it. There also seems to be an arm motion that goes with it. It's pretty freaking cute. Hilarious. (And yes, AWESOME! - The Panda says "awesome" a lot. Maybe that's why it's in my head.)



Likes & Dislikes: You know how you write a blog post and then realize later half of the stuff that you should have put in it? That's what happened with Desmond's 18 month update. And I was going to fix it, but I did that one so late that by the time I kept NOT getting around to it, it was pretty much time for the 19 month one.  So, anyway. Desmond really really really likes SWIMMING! Since he loves floating around in the bathtub so much, we started doing swimming lessons a while back. (Hopefully there will be a backdated blog post about that sometime. Maybe.) He loves them! And he's getting pretty brave. He doesn't need to hold your hands to jump into the pool. And he really isn't even all that clingy, although he certainly can't swim by himself, even with a bubble belt and pool noodle. But yes, the kid loves swimming. LOVES it!

He also likes the usual stuff - being outside, going downstairs. Those are pretty big.  He likes cars. A lot. He likes playing with cars and driving them around on the furniture, complete with sound effects. He likes watching cars driving through parking lots or down the street. He likes playing inside Mom's and Dad's cars.

And how best to combine cars and outside? A lawnmower, of course! He doesn't have a whole lot of patience for actual mowing. (It is pretty hot, after all.) But he LOVES sitting on the lawnmower when it's parked in the garage. He just climbs up into the driver's seat like it's exactly where he is supposed to be. As I've said before, I hope their love for the lawnmower and all things outside and yardwork-related sticks around for the next 18-20 years or so.

No big dislikes. He doesn't like it when Dexter "dog piles" on top of him. He isn't a fan of diaper changes. But he is mostly smart enough to avoid things he doesn't like. See above about actually napping when he's tired. And if he's too hot outside, he will actually come inside and drink some water instead of soldiering on.

See? Happy AND smart. (And awesome!)

Desmond is 18 (and a half) Months Old! (with official stats)

Dude. These boys never want me to blog about them. At least, that must be the case, because they keep me way too busy feeding them and cleaning up after them and reading to them and going outside to play with them. :)

About 2 weeks ago, Desmond turned 18 months old!
(Even though this post is dated May 24, I am actually writing it up on June 11.)

So much has already changed in those two weeks that I don't want to wait any longer, or I won't have anything to write about when he turns 19 months old.

The short version is that we've (finally!) had a Word Explosion! Our Desmo is talking up a storm, speaking surprisingly clearly for someone who's really only been doing some serious talking for a few weeks.

Let's get down to business, shall we?

Official Stats:
Weight: 30 pounds (91st %ile)
Height: 34.5" (95th %ile)
Head Circumference: 18" (14th %ile)

So yeah. He's tall. I hope you were sitting down for that one.


Teeth: Still hanging strong at 12 teeth! I keep waiting for those canines to pop through, but they aren't quite here yet.

Sleep: Desmond is still a very good sleeper. He has started to fuss a little bit at night when he goes down, but he either stops quickly on his own or is easily soothed. He still has his pacifier in the crib, though. Hopefully none of that changes when we take it away. (Which will be soon. We hope. We're trying to find a few days where it won't be tragic if we are sleep-deprived.)

Food: Desmond is still a good eater, though he seems to have slowed down a bit. He has some favorites - still mostly vegetables and carbs, though he is also a big fan of scrambled eggs. Daycare likes to joke about how much he eats. (But really - their "normal" breakfast is half of a waffle and 1/3 of a banana. At home, he's more of a 2 waffles, a whole banana, and 8 ounces of yogurt kind of guy.)

Signs: Really, we're down to "more," "please," and "done." Which is fine, especially since all are accompanied by their respective words. This will probably be our last "signs" update.

Words: At his official 18-month appointment, Desmond had about six words. Which was fine, because they were only looking for him to have 3 or more. (They set the bar really high over there.) Anyway, it was good to know he wasn't literally pathologically behind in his speech development.


But NOW he has at least 45 words:



Fish
Uh-oh
Blue
Dad
Airplane
Ball
Dexter
Pop
Please
Diaper
Thank you
Hot
Mine
Mom (as of May 29. Finally!)
More
Up
Down
Apple
Horse
Boat
Bear
Book
Birds
There
Spoon
Bread
Pee-pee (as an anatomical structure, not urine)
Feet
Bus
Car
Outside
Downstairs
Arm
Baby
Bee (Story below)
No
Sip
Truck
Dirt
Stuck
Help
Tractor
Flowers
Table

Shoes

The Bee Story: The evening of June 6 (a Monday), we were all out on the back deck, mostly doing our own things. Desmond suddenly let out a huge wail, followed by another plaintive "Beeeeeeeee!" Disbelief generally delayed my reaction speed a little bit, but sure enough, a bee had stung him on the tip of his right index finger. The stinger was still there.  It was clear that it hurt a lot. Poor baby.  His dad, ever the Eagle Scout, quickly whipped up a paste of baking soda and water to help ease the sting. Even Dexter was eager to go get him some ice for his finger. It was probably only 5 minutes or so before it started feeling better, but it seemed like an eternity. For days afterward, he'd show you his index finger and say a sad "Beeeeeee."  Poor baby. :(


Likes & Dislikes: I hate to say it, but Desmond likes TV. I mean, he really likes TV. All you have to do is mention "TV" or "a movie" or "Monsters" (Monster's Inc.) or "Fish" (Finding Nemo) and he runs to his little TV-watching spot between the sofa and ottoman. So, we pretty much just try not to mention it, because if he isn't thinking about the TV, he really does love being outside or playing downstairs or reading a book.

He tends to prefer men. Likes Dad more than Mom. Pop more than Tootsie. Granddad more than Grandma. He does give us womenfolk some love sometimes, though, so we don't get too bitter about being #2 in his book. :)  

He likes his big brother, too, and just about anything Dexter is doing or playing with. They're both pretty good (usually) about sharing, though. We count to 20, and then it's the other one's turn. Sometimes they lose interest before we get to 20, which is pretty cool.

Dislikes? Eh. Not much. Diaper changes are still big fights. And he doesn't like anything if he is overtired (and he often is just before bedtime.)


In short, he is a happy, healthy, developmentally normal 18 month old boy who gives his mom kisses just about any time she asks. So we're still keeping him. :)

Dexter is Two and a Half!

Actually, he turned two and a half back in April.  But it wouldn't be our blog if we weren't a few months behind.

AND it would appear that I didn't even get a picture of him *on* April 4. So here are a couple from April 6.

And here's one from April 7 - so very Dexter.

(... and that's as far as I got writing this up. Oops. He's cute, though, isn't he?)

Desmond is 17 Months Old!

 

Oh, Desmo, we love you. (That's "Des-moe," a nickname from Thanksgiving that has stuck.) I promise. I've just been having too much fun hanging out with you that I haven't gotten to chronicle your amazing 15- and 16-month milestones. (There are pictures, though!)

15 Months. Love this face!

16 Months. Yeah, he gives us this look a lot.

Teeth: Desmond officially has 12 teeth. Finally. Poor kid tends to have a rough couple of days when they first start to come in, but that's about it.

Weight: We've been to the doctor quite a bit lately, and he is right at 30 pounds. Some days 29.8, some days 30.4. I guess he has some heavy shoes? Big lunch? Who knows. 

Height: TALL. :)  OK, so we don't really know exactly how tall he is. But he is tall. He can reach just about everything and isn't shy about doing so.

Sleep: Mostly, Desmond is a champion sleeper.  He (usually) goes down with little fuss at about 8:30 and sleeps until 8:30 or so in the morning. We had a period there where he was waking up often with ear pain (see above about our frequent doctor visits. Boooo.), but he seems to be over that now and is back to his regular sleep patterns.  He also naps during the day, usually for about 2 hours (give or take). I guess that's sortof a lot for a 17 month old, but not too much.  Besides, it generally makes him a very happy boy, so it's all good.

Food: If I had to pick a favorite food for Desmond, it would be.....    broccoli.  Crazy, I know. But if you give that kid little (steamed) broccoli florets, he will go to town until you take them away. As eating habits go, we are going to ride this one for as long as we can.  He also still likes carrots. And bread. And he will sometimes deign to eat fruit or meat, but mostly he's all about the veggies and carbs.

Signs: As Desmond becomes more verbal (YAY!), we're pushing the signs less, and he is indeed signing less.  He is very consistent with "more" and "please," even unsolicited, but he's doing much better with actual words, which is very exciting.

Words: OK, I say he has a lot of words, but he really doesn't. He's just better about being verbal and pointing and communicating in other ways. He's showing a lot of promise here, though, and that's where we're focusing our efforts. He'll absolutely repeat anything you say, often with surprising clarity.  He has been saying "fish" ("ish") for a few months now. He also says "Dad" and "Daddy." And "Dexter" ("Deh Tuuh"). He also points to "Pop" ("Top") on the computer screen when we Skype. He usually correctly identifies "blue" ("boo") things. "Uh-oh!" is still very popular, too. "Mom" is coming, I just know it.

Tricks: You wouldn't believe it, but showing off his (adorable!) tummy is still one of his favorite things. He has a whole repertoire of animal sounds, including lion, tiger, and bear (all "roar"), dog, and elephant. He scratches his little tummy for "monkey," but we've only heard him make the noise once. Generally speaking, he's just much better at following commands like "Put that in the trash" and "Give that to Dad."

Books: Desmond still LOVES books. Nighttime favorites vary quite a bit, but Ten Friendly Fish is a common request. Sandra Boynton's Doggies is another favorite, as is Big Dog and Little Dog Go for a Walk. (Big Dog and Little Dog get to shake and shake and shake, shake and shake and shake, after their post-walk bath. It is FUN!)

Likes & Dislikes: Desmond LOVES going outside. In fact, you need to be very careful about using the word "outside," because he will be VERY disappointed if he hears it and can't actually go outside. He loves his big brother - chasing him and giggling with him and playing peek-a-boo and a million other things with him.  He also hates his big brother, mostly when there is a toy they both want. He likes his Dad. A LOT. :)  He likes to randomly come up to any exposed skin and give you raspberries. Heck, sometimes he will even lift up your shirt just so he can give you a raspberry. On most nights, he loves making BIG splashes in his bath. In fact, he loves it so much that we signed him up for swimming lessons, which he also loves.

As far as toys go, his favorites seem to be cars. He isn't much for puzzles or shape sorters. Noisy toys (like his noisy workbench thing and any "drop the ball in the hole" toys) are acceptable. Trains are a close second. But yeah. Cars. He's been "driving" them along the sofa and ottoman for a few weeks now, complete with sound effects.

Desmond is 14 Months Old!

14 months!  Somehow, he seems a lot older than that. Maybe because I've been saying "13 months" since he was really only about 12.5 months old.  ANYway, it's been a big month for Desmond - 2 new teeth, plus leaps of learning in communication and animal sounds.  I think he even had a big growth spurt, because he's suddenly too tall for a lot of his clothes. 

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 also capable of way more than I feel like he should be.  He can climb in and out of the bathtub. (Not gracefully, mind you, but he can get out.)  He can open any unlocked door in the house.  He's trying to use a fork. Sometimes.  If you load it for him, he is all about eating with that fork.  And he'll let you help him spear some foods. But he usually just takes the one bite you prepare for him and then tosses the fork on the floor.

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!!!)