This Mouth Was Made For Talking

Hi Bukester,

It's that time again. At 18.5 months, you are talking almost as much as your GramLola, and you are understanding much more than you can say. An update is definitely needed. So, here it is...

Aiston, you mimic everything. Whenever Mommy says a word, you try to repeat it. You will stare at her mouth and try to form your mouth in the same way. Aside from the 30 or so words you could say at 16.5 months, here are the words you can now say (or at least that we can figure out you are trying your hardest to say): Palaaway (on of the cats who is no longer with us), star, car, raining, light, bubble, pop, lid, dark, me, mine, shoes, uh oh, ow ow ow, ready, tree, basket, basketball, dito (Filipino for "here"), I do it, you do it, yellow, blue, bump, jump, touchdown, beep beep, gate, bib, book, taxi, goat, wine, egg, Tita, Kristy, wow, pee pee, poo poo, watch, hello, pool, whoa, beach, bite, bike, buddy, clean, eat, cheese, yay, wheel, water bottle, rub dub dub, step, done, umbrella, park, people, boom boom, teeth, yum yum (or num num), mouth, bird, wheeee (in reference to a swing), mouse, backpack

Among others, you understand these phrases and will respond positively:

"Please put your toys in the basket."

"Can you please go put your books back on the shelf?"

"Let's turn your piano off."

"Where do the balls go when we finish playing with them?"

"How will we wash our hands?"

"Let's get cleaned up in the bath."

"Give _____ a hug or kiss. It's time to say night night."

"Want to go for a walk?"

"Can you put your shoes on please?"

"Let's read some books. You choose what you'd like to read."

"Should we go to the park to play?"

"Where is your _____ (mouth, nose, eye, ear, cheek, belly button, foot, toe, finger, hair, tongue, knee, etc.)?"
"We need to brush our teeth."

Here are the books you continue to love:

I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt

Poems for the Very Young by Eloise Wilkin (you still prefer it to be sung)

And here are the books you are also enamored with at the moment:

Pronounced "Babiessss"

Pronounced "Rub Dub Dub"

Pronounced "We War"

You love to read. We read after you wake up in the morning, we read before naps, we read before bed and sometimes we read in between. You have your favorite books and your favorite people to read with. For now, you love reading with Mommy. You especially love when she sings books. But, sometimes, if Daddy is lucky, you choose to sit in his lap for a few pages, too. Often times, you will start reading with Mommy, finish the book, and then want the same book read again by another person, whether it be Daddy or GramLola. You are super cute the way you back up into our laps and get yourself comfortable for reading. And you copy expressions and actions from books, too. You love to point at the pictures and say the words that you know. And you are getting to know A LOT of words!

Trumpet, your dark gray elephant, is your favorite of the four you have. You love to take him out of your bed and hold him and snuggle with him. You will put your thumb in your mouth and smell his trunk as your comfort.

Your favorite person right now is Mommy. This makes Daddy sad, but we know you go through phases of favorite people so we are not worried.

You also love Skype. We are so lucky to be able to communicate with our family this way, who lives on the other side of the world. Most often, we talk to GramLola. She can't stand to go more than a week without chatting with you and hearing your voice. We also sometimes talk to Tito Ryan, Tita Kristy (who you miss very much), Auntie Amy, and every once in awhile, Lolo, and Nana and Bapa. Every time you hear the "phone" ring, you run into the office to check who it might be. You love to hear the voices and see the people on the other side of the computer screen.

Here are some awesome things that you are doing right now:

* Playing your flute by placing your fingers on the holes and blowing through your mouth

* Playing your piano and choosing different beats and tunes, and wiggling your body to the beat

* Dunking your head under the water in the pool (and loving it!)

* Splashing, playing, squeezing and squirting your squishy toys in the blow-up pool

* "Shooting" hoops

* Playing Steamroller with Dad, where you will roll over and Daddy will pretend to roll on top of you

* Going "1, 2, 3 Speed Bump!" and laughing

* Switching on/off the lights

* "Fixing" things with pretend and real tools (you LOVE nuts, bolts and screws - you are very interested in knowing how things are put together)

* Slurping like a frog, meowing like a cat, and panting and "aarfing" like a dog

* Taking a sip of your water or milk and letting out a satisfied "Ahhhhhhhhh"

* Pretending to mix, pour, eat and drink

* Getting water from the dispenser to drink (although this move has not been perfected, you love to think you are getting the water out by making a big wet mess on the floor or only getting a drop and then drinking it)

* Drawing your favorite thing on the magna-doodle: the moon

* Blowing on hot things to cool them down
* "Clipping" your fingernails (and those of Mommy and Daddy)
* Doing a "fish face" when you hear the word fish

At this stage, you are starting to show more preferences for certain things and you are slightly pickier about what you eat. You get frustrated when you can't do something on your own yet. One of your favorite words is "no" and though we are really trying to work in the "no, THANK YOU" part, it hasn't happened yet. Whenever you hear the opposite of what you'd like to hear, you often pitch a bit of a fit and will either: a) throw yourself on the ground in protest, b) hit the nearest person, c) kick the nearest person, or on occasion, d) bite the nearest person, or e) a combination of them all. It's like you have so much emotion in that little body of yours that you don't know how to get it out in appropriate ways...yet. But, we are working on it. You are learning how to be patient and how to accept the word "no," especially when it is said for your own safety or for Mommy and Daddy's sanity. You have also perfected the whine, which we often ignore or try to talk around. You are one busy boy with lots of things you'd like to do. We are all learning how to be balanced.

You had your final shots last week and the doc said you were a healthy boy. You didn't even flinch when the needle pierced your skin. You weigh 10 kilos and are 81 cm in height. You have 16 teeth, with a few more molars beginning to work their way up.

And, here are some of your little quirks that we love and that we think are hilarious:

* Pointing to your penis and exclaiming, "Dada?!" with a huge smile on your face

* Pointing to your chest and exclaiming, "Mama?!" with another huge smile on your face

* Hearing a fart (from Daddy of course) and then saying "poo poo poo poo?"

* Watching your parents go to the bathroom and then saying either "pee pee" or "poopoo poopoo," wanting to help flush the toilet and then saying "bye bye" and waving to the waste

* Playing catch with the football, running towards a touchdown and doing the touchdown dance

* Getting hiccups from laughing so hard

* Saying "please" for everything

* Running super fast and then falling down (I know we shouldn't giggle at this, but you never hurt yourself and it is just so funny). At times, you look as if you are going to fall forward because your arms are pushed back to the sides, so your balance is off.

* Pointing to a helicopter or to a train (which we rode for the first time the other day) and saying "bye bye" to the people; closing a book and saying "bye bye"

Finally, here are some current, outrageously darling photos of you doing the things you love best: playing with water, drinking milk, using tools, riding bikes and swimming.

We love you, Ace Man!
Mom and Dad