girlfiend

While he’s in his room, screaming at the gate instead of napping (Today is operation nap indoors day one. It’s a miserable failure thus far.) I figured I’d fill you in the 21 month updates. When he’s not screaming and crying instead of sleeping, the Fiendling continues to be a great kid.

In the past few weeks he’s discovered singing. So far his repetoire includes Old Macdonald,  Head and shoulders, knees and toes (though he leaves the shoulders out every time), the alphabet song, The Wheels on the Bus along with the appropriate gestures, and Ring Around the Rosie. He’s pretty good at remembering most of the words and fills in the different actions and words for the Wheels on the Bus on his own. He can do three or four verses solo- the wheels, the doors, the wipers and the windows. He seems to have a lot more fun at story hour now that he can join in a little more.

He continues to name everything, everyone and what they’re doing. He narrates the day.  Dog running. Rabbit eating flower. Mama tired. Babies kissing. Cats sleeping. Mix’s hat. Buddy making mess. Oven mitt. The other day at Mix’s parents house he seemed perplexed in the kitchen when he couldn’t see an oven mitt anywhere.

He consistently surprises me with new vocabulary and memory. I accidentally referred to the movie neighborhood animals as baby farm and he’s called it baby farm ever since. He rolled pie crust once now says pie crust whenever he sees a rolling pin. Says chanukah candles when he sees the menorah or hears someone else say chanukah. He says catch it when he sees football on tv. He gets distraught with excitement when he sees the mixer or food processor because he thinks that pressing the buttons must be a rip-roaring good time and I won’t let him touch them.

He’s really into tv right now (mother of the year) and asks to watch certain shows. Specifically, he adores the aforementioned baby farm, Sesame Street, Clifford and Curious George. It’s a good thing we got rid of cable. I have a feeling we’d be watching a lot more TV if PBS wasn’t the only channel with children’s programming.

He’s learned how to roar like a lion (or tiger, or jaguar, or cheetah) and ribbit like a frog.

He somehow learned how to count to ten, a skill I’ve never actually worked on with him. Sure we count when we go up and down steps and read tons of counting books, but we’ve only ever tried to count three things at a time before because he tends to get stuck after two. So when he busted out the numbers up to seven the other day I was shocked. When he added eight, nine and ten (in that order!!) the next day I was thrilled.

He reads to himself and to others, either naming the objects on a page or remembering and repeating the story. He’s great with the Richard Scarry books and can read pages before losing interest. He can also tell you what happens on each page of books with plots.
He’s still a shitty sleeper. Now when he wakes up he’ll climb out of bed, put on his Phillies hat, grab his sippy cup and stand at the gate in his doorway calling for mama and dada.

He does not like to get dressed in the morning. He likes to stay in his sleep sack and pajamas for as long as possible.

He’s really getting hair now. He may even have a full head of hair by his second birthday, but he may not be quite there yet.

He likes to draw circles and asks me to draw pictures for him. His requests are usually mama, dada, baby fiendling with Phillies hat, and Clifford the dog.

He tries to do somersaults with moderate success.

He loves to walk on the beam and seeks out beam-like sidewalks and walls. When he sees a good sidewalk he’ll say “beam! beam!” And walk back and forth on it 30 or 40 times or until I lose interest.

He requests to go places. The playhouse, treehouse, grandmom’s house and his aunt’s house are his favorites.

He names his friends when you ask who his friends are and requests to look at their pictures.

He’s not good at sharing but he knows how to take turns. At gymnastics class he’ll anxiously wait for his turn to walk on the beam or be bounced on the parachute saying Fiendling’s turn every time another kid’s turn is over. He’s not very patient, but it’s adorable to hear him demand his turn repeatedly. He’s better about taking turns when he’s in charge of whose turn it is. When we play catch he like to decide who the person with the ball should throw it to by saying, “Dada’s turn” or “Mama’s turn.”

He’s a very sweet kid.