One year and 11 months, AKA 23 months!

Next stop, TWOSVILLE! You are just getting more and more fun, and cuter and cuter if that's even possible! New things at 23 months:
We took you to Seattle for a week for my friends wedding and you were the traveling champion!! What a little adventurer you are! You LOVE airplanes and were fascinated the whole time (too excited to sleep!) I brought a huge bag of goodies and your FAVORITE thing that kept you entertained the most was dropping little sparkly puff balls into an empty travel toothbrush container. Go figure! You also loved the party blowers I brought. In Seattle we took you to the science center, the aquarium (you learned the word pufferfish), playgrounds, the ferris wheel, stayed at a downtown hotel, watched the superbowl, and you bonded so much with Poppy and Grama this trip. You would cry "Grama heeeeere" with big alligator tears when we got back to the condo and you noticed Grama wasn't there.
You love to help unload the dishwasher. You hand me the forks, spoons, knives and plates. The moment you hear me open the dishwasher door you will drop whatever toy you were playing with in the next room and run into the kitchen and say "Help!"
You love to do a fake sneeze. You like it when we yawn and you will also do a fake yawn. You are swimming much better with the lifejacket and you will jump off the side of a pool and go totally under and pop back up. You are more interested in the balance bike. You love to smell things and will say "Smell good!!" (even when the thing you are smelling does NOT smell good! haha). You like to get cozy and will say "nap! nap!" And we play a game where you are baby hippo and you take a nap. You are interested in pretend play. You pretend you are a baby panda and I feed you imaginary bamboo. Your favorite foods at the moment are salami (Lami!), pineapple, and pears. The other day you started to cry when we were outside and you said "Rockadoo!" and I quickly figured out that meant Rock in your shoe! You have been sounding like a little Dutch boy and you end your sentences with the cutest "Yah?" You are obsessed with playdough and more specifically the playdough tools. You love organizing them in their box and handing them to me and me handing them back. Same game goes for the office pens in dada's office. We had our first movie night where you watched an entire movie "(Ice Age). You got upset at a few parts (the squirrel and his nut was very upsetting for you!). You got your first ear infection. I've never had to cancel a whole week of lessons and this past week we were all very sick. But now we are on the mend! You love dice and deck of cards. You love strutting around in mama's old baby boots. You are speaking longer sentences "Mama will fix it. Jenna rides a you-nycle (unicycle). That goes downstairs" are a few sentences from this week.
You are sleeping in later (7am), sleeping through the night (sometimes 6:30pm-7am!) and some days you skip your nap but have a 2 hour quiet time in your crib and other days you will take a 2-4 hour nap!
We love you so much. You are such a cutie tootie! And we are having so much fun with you. More fun than I could have ever imagined.

One year and 10 months (or 22 months old!)

It's getting harder to remember your exact age, so I've been telling people "He will be Two in March!" Here is what's new at 22 months!
You love to tumble! Tumbling class has made you fearless. You love doing things by yourself. We just got you a life jacket for the first time, and bobbing alone in the ocean or pool gives you SHEER delight! We play the "woah woah woah" game where I pretend to let you go, but your life jacket keeps you buoyant! You love playing games. You told dada "Dada. Go find. Peek a boo" (telling him to go around the kitchen island to hide and then find you). You loved pretending to be Moki in the ocean as we dog paddled around (although you've never seen Moki swim!) You say "Again! Moki!" You love jumping off the pool wall into the pool (while still sitting, but we will work our way up to standing) You do a cheeky little bit where you say "All done, more. All done, more" (saying more in a quiet voice).
When we sing EIEIO you are so used to me saying "then what" when it comes time to name an animal that now you since "And on that farm he had a....now what?"
You are putting 3-4 words together to make sentences. You still love to say "Round and around in a circle!" Whenever somebody (or yourself) sneezes you say "Bless you". You love the mole on my elbow and learned the word "Freckle" (but you call my mole Metzel, so that's his name. He seems to comfort you, which is a bit odd, but then again you are a funny little guy!)
You love to build. You'll actually say "Build. Build" when you just simply want to keep playing and not clean up yet. You also sing the clean up song all by yourself now.
You've discovered the ipad and are amazingly technological. Your favorite show is Wildcrats, Cailou, George, and OdddSquad. I have to limit how much TV time you get because I really think you'd sit there all day. I've also downloaded puzzle apps and other educational games which you love. I usually let you have ipad time around 5pm when I start making dinner. You say "Ah pad"for ipad. You have an angelic little "No" that you sing (pitched at the Ab above middle C slurring down to a G to be exact!) for when you don't want something. The other night went like this:
Me: Alistair do you want dinner?"
You: (sweet angelic voice) "No"
Me: "Would you like it if you sat in your high chair?"
You: "No"
Me: "Would you prefer to sit at the table like a big boy?"
You: "No"
Me: (looking at Alex texting at the kitchen sink) "Can you help me?"
Alex: (same exact voice without even looking up) "No"

You have been sleeping really well (knock on wood) and sleeping in till 7am some mornings! Today I accidentally woke you up because I thought for sure you'd be awake!) You also have been taking 2-3 hour naps everyday. Resting that busy little body and brain of yours! We had a great visit from Grandma and Poppy and you recognized them and said their names right away when you first saw them, thanks to facetime! We are enjoying you so much. Each month I think this is the best age. You are so huggy with me and are all about mama right now which I just love!!

Second Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. So much more fun now that you are older. We left cookies out for Santa and in the morning we asked you who came last night and you said "Santa!" (all day I said "Who comes tonight? and you'd at first always say Erica!!") You very cautiously opened your first present and it was a drill. At first you jumped back in fear and said "Sharp! Ouchie!" because we've taught you not to touch Daddy's tools. But we had to explain that THESE tools are for Alistair. I hope you can tell the difference because they look incredibly real! Maybe not a good gift idea, but it sure was a hit with you! You got a drill, saw, jig saw, and chain saw! After the first present, you got excited and said "More!" You opened two gifts, took a 2 hour nap, and then we waited until about 2pm when Cathy and GG Ruth showed up to finish the rest. The slowest moving X-mas I've ever had! Normally kids rip through gifts in about 2 minutes! But you had to appropriately play with each toy after you opened it which I think is a great idea.

I forgot a few other things going on at 21 months. You know your numbers 1-10. I discovered this because I was snapping your buttons and counting them as I went. After I said 7 I stopped counting outloud and then you said "8, 9!" You also know your colors of the rainbow. Sometimes purple and green end up being labeled as blue. And at first your automatic answer when we asked what color something was was "Yellow!" but then you'd look closely and say the right color.
You also are singing songs! You love Raffi "Apples and Bananas" and sing "Oot Ooot oot!" You are singing part of your ABC's and sometimes out of order like "a b c x and z" You sing EIEIO and on that barn..." and in the car you sing along to anything!
You are also putting 2-3 words together "Go Tutu's house" "P U Moki!" "Open door please"
You are also very good at saying please and thank you. If you demand something like "More More!" we say "More what?" and you say "More please!"
Last night we did a good job at eating dinner so I said "Give me 5!" and you slapped my hand and they YOU said "Up high!" and put your hand in the air. I guess dada taught that to you today, just one time! You have an amazing memory!!
You are really into smells. Fragrant flowers. You notice bad smells too! This week you've been taking 2-3.5 hour naps! You have been waking up really early. And we are having some tummy issues with going to the bathroom. But hopefully this too shall pass! You are a funny hambone and you are very friendly and outgoing. You imitate every word you hear. We just think you are a genius!

21 Months

I remember last Christmas thinking "This time next year you are going to be 21 months old! Almost 2!" and I couldn't even picture what that be like. And yet here we are! I can't believe how fast time is going by. You are a full on toddler now. My little baby is no longer a little baby (but you will ALWAYS be my baby even when you are all grown up!) Here are the latest stories from 21 months old:

At the bank, I let you roam around on your own (I normally strap you to my body in the ergo when I run errands). You never stray too far from mama. But you walked up to the front of the line and turned around and smiled at everyone standing in line. Then you turned your head and saw at eye level, a perfect miniature porcelaine Christmas village on display, just open for touching. You stood there and admired the scene, quietly examining the village from a safe distance. Then you turned back to me and in front of everybody you stuck your little finger in the air and wagged it back and forth and said "No no, breakable". It made EVERYBODY laugh!

You were in the high chair eating breakfast and you had 2 forks in your hand, one was slightly bigger than the other. Dada asked you "Which one is bigger?" and you held them both up and closely examined them and then held the right one out and proudly exclaimed "Bigger!" We were both very impressed.

You parrot back ANY word we say. It's pretty funny at times. Dada and I will be having a conversation and dada will say something like "I'm talking, full blown!" and you will chime in and excitedly say "Full Blown!" You also understand everything we say too. I said to dada "I think Moki is stuck in the stairwell since the door is closed" and you immediately stood up, ran into the living room, opened the door and said "Moki!"

You are still terrified of Santa. We saw him at the foodcourt, and at first you were giggling at him, but then when you realized I was bringing you into the santa room for a photo, your giggling turned into nervous laughter and you cling to me for dear life. One day you won't be scared of this man. You LOVE your snowman (no man). We are borrowing him from the neighbor girls since it's your favorite toy at the moment.

You are saying "tutu" instead of "dudu" and today you said "Tutu how! Tutu how!" (meaning let's go to Tutu's house!)

You know how to use the ipad and our iphones. You know exactly which apps are the ones you want to play with. You love the pbs kids apps and can pick out your shows like Curious George "George! George!" Thomas the train "Thomas! Spencer!" Elmo, Wyatt, Daniel Meow Meow Tiger. You don't watch too much tv, but when I'm cooking dinner sometimes you like to relax and watch your shows.

You LOVE local aunties. You gladly say "Aunty!" and want to be scooped up by any Auntie who wants to hold you. You are a super friendly outgoing boy who gladly holds new friends by the hand.

When I mention play dates with other friends you are quick to pat yourself on the chest and say "Alistair!" We play the laundry game and as I fold the clothes I ask you whose they belong too. You say "Dada. Mama, Alistair" all at the right times! I mentioned we were going to see your friend Phoenix and you quickly pointed to the toy of his we are borrowing and said "Phoenix!" You know what items belong to whom!

You just got over a horrible stomach virus (you threw up 3 times!) but luckily you are never sick for very long.

You love to say "Woah! Biggun!" (big one)

20 Months old

You are talking up a strom now. Putting 2-3 words together, imitating every word we say. New favorite foods are olives, cucumbers, humus, pizza (every cardboard box you see you say "pizza!!"), shrimp, Thai food. Some days you have an amazing palet, other days it's hard to get you to eat anything. You like to play games. Sometimes you purposely put the puzzle piece in the wrong spot and look at me grinning waiting to hear me go "Unnnn. Wrong!" We feed the hippo in the storm drain rocks. When the wind blows you climb up me and squeeze my neck and say "Wind. Cold. Brrr" and we snuggle close. You get anxious when it gets dark (which is starting to happen earlier and earlier each week) and you say "Dark. Dark!" and you want to go to bed right away. Sometimes you'll look for the nearest crib if we are out at a friends house when it gets dark! You like to say "watch!" for things you want to observe (me playing music while I teach; the robot vacuuming the floor; Elmo on the ipad). You discovered the ipad this month and love pbs kids shows. You say "Ipad! Watch! Elmo!" You know my computer and the projector sheet are vital to your Elmo watching. New words this month "Toothpaste (doot paste); toothbrush (doot brush), Helicopter (heti copter); Submarine (tum ba reen). You love getting the mail. One day I left the door to my printer open and you grabbed the whole stack of music and went shrieking by me like a bolt of lighting squealing "Mail!!" as you threw the papers around. We had a play date with Jace and Phoenix one night and I told you since Phoenix really loved the lion toy we should give it to him. But then I said "Oh, but Jace is coming too. We need to give him a toy. What toy should we give Jace?" and you looked at me, bolted over to your toy bin, rummaged through, and pulled out the perfect toy duck that has a pull along string and you said "Jace! Duck!"
But then a few days later we went over to Phoenix's house and there were toys EVERYWHERE. But somehow you zeroed in on the lion toy (you never played with!) and picked it up and walked it over to me and shoved it to me and said "mama". I said "remember when you gave that lion to Phoenix?" and you said "No". Pretty funny. We are on a wait list for a mommy toddler pre school that meets twice a week. We went as a visitor and you had a great time. I think it would be fun for us to do together. I gave you your first big boy hair cut and did a really good job. But you look so much older. You are so friendly and funny. We are going through a little bit of a separation anxiety again at this age. You cry when I have to go to work, but only for a few seconds. You aren't sleeping as well anymore and have been getting up several times a night and end up sleeping with me. We've had a few night terrors this month which are more terrifying for the parents! I think it's just all growing pains. Your little brain in on over drive and you are learning so much stuff at such an incredible rate. We tell you something once and you remember. Before bed, dada pointed to an airplane and told you it was probably going to Maui. Then the next morning when we saw an airplane you said "Airplane! Maui!" and dad and I just looked at each other amazed! You love to color "Paper! Color! Crayon". and sometimes you help me clean up. You sing songs. The other day at the beach you were staring at the ocean and started singing "Hush a baby. Hush a baby" (for hush little baby). And you love Raffi's I like to Ooot Ooot ooot ooples and banoonoos!

19 months old

19 months old. Can this be true?? I remember last year thinking when you were 7 months old at Halloween "This time next year he will be 19 months!!" And it was so hard to picture a little toddler running around at the time. Next year you will be 2 and a half year old talking up a storm in complete sentences! Your dada and I are enjoying you SO MUCH! You are SO funny. And SO expressive. New things this month: You are obsessed with the roomba vacuum robot cleaning. You say "Wo-bot!" My all time favorite word this month is your way of saying "Ladybug"...."beak-a-bug". I love it!! You call daddy's mustache a "mutmash". You are still big on doing something you know to be naughty and wagging your finger in the air while you pout so sad and say "No, no. Break-able". You know the word "naughty". And you call Ruby "No no, naughty. Knuckles". Since we call her knuckle head for being so naughty! You LOVE your little red piano. And you like to play songs, and then say "Mama!" and you pull me over to your piano so I can play you songs. You sing "EIEIO moo moo", "ABC" (the first 3 letters and then you hum and sing random words for the rest), and Hush little baby "You sing 'baby' and then hum along". And funniest of all? Dada taught you the word "butthole", which you love to point out on the cat. You were curious as to what that thing was, and dada told you. I wasn't going to tell anyone else you knew that word, but then your wonderful nanny Erica was watching you and you went up to the cat, pointed, and said clear as day "Butthole". She found it hilarious too. You love saying "Erica" (it's more like a Ear-ica". You love stickers. You learned the word "Hippo" and that a hippo says "Blub Blub Blub". You love throwing rocks down the storm drain, and think a hippo lives down there. I love it when I'm teaching and you are playing on the front porch with Erica and you say "Mama!" and you stand in the doorway of my music room and smile at me and watch me teach. Sometimes you dance along to the music. Today you said clear as day "Have a good day!" to our neighbor Tommy! You talk about Poppy playing piano and guitar. You still think the Quaker Oats man and the Newsmans own boxes are your great grandparents PopPop and GG. You have been having fun with an ap on our iphones called autorap. Are you going to be a rap artist?? You know what everything belongs to (tutu's glasses, dada's shirt, mama's shoes etc).
I took my first trip ever without you. It felt so weird at the airport. Like I was missing my head. I was anxious and I cried a few tears, but I knew you would have so much fun with your dada and grandparents. I had a wonderful time with my best friend. The highlight was sitting on the couch from Friends on the WB tour. I can't wait to take you to Disneyland one day. It's my favorite place on earth!

Typical schedule

I'm taking my first trip without my baby this week Thursday! I'm going to see my best friend Jenna in California. I have spent every single day with you the past 19 months! I wonder how I will do! Dada and Tutu and Bycle will be manning the monkey for 3.5 days. I printed out this schedule for them to follow and thought I'd put it on your blog!

TYPICAL SCHEDULE FOR ALISTAIR

Wakes up anywhere between 5:30-7am. If he wakes early, I stay silent but give him a bottle in bed with me and let him read books till 6:45am. Quiet time. If he wakes up 6:30-7 I don’t feed him a bottle but fix him smoothy at 7am instead.

Open his curtains/windows and air out bedroom. Change diaper

7am Smoothy. He usually doesn’t have a huge appetite until closer to 8am. Drinks smoothy on his walk.

7-8:30 playtime. Lots of outdoor time.  Good time for beach.

8/8:30 breakfast: Oatmeal with yogurt, scrambled eggs and avocado, granola w/milk

8:30-9:30 more playtime.

9:30 or 10am Change diaper. Fix a bottle of 10 oz. Ergo, dark room, sing songs, nap. Make sure panda bear and some books are in the corner of his crib.

Usually naps 1.5-2 hours. Change diaper.

Open his curtains/windows and air out bedroom

12am snack (string cheese, apples/pears, raisens, banana, yogurt, goldfish)

1pm Lunch (ham and cheese sandwich, left over dinner chicken/pasta, mac n cheese)

2:30 Change diaper. 8oz bottle and quiet time in his room for 30 mins (read books, cuddle)

5 or 5:30pm Dinner

6:30 bath time

7pm Night diaper. 10 oz bottle, sing songs, bed time. Make sure panda and books are in crib. Put him in crib awake but sleepy after bottle. Press the mobile. Hand him panda. Sit on the floor next to his crib and put hand on his tummy.