20.5 Months Already?

Hi Bud!

Mommy and Daddy are writing about all the things you can do now that you are 20.5 months old! The list is long, but we will try to be short(ish)...

You now speak more words than we can count. In fact, we tried keeping a current list, but had to stop after reaching 100 NEW words from the last time we wrote an update about you! Your vocabulary is growing every day and we are amazed by how much you remember from books and from experiences. Sometimes, we'll think you don't know a word, but you will randomly say it while out for a walk or while reading a story together. And sometimes, you carry on long conversations with us, stringing together all sorts of words that we can't quite understand. But, you certainly know what you're saying. :) Words that used to be mumbled are now clear and a good example of this is one of your favorite words when you were a bit younger: "mmn" which is now clearly "moon."

A word that is in your vocabulary which is very unique to you is "nanum." When you first started saying recognizable words, you would say "na" for food. That has morphed into "na" + "yummy" = "nanum." Judging by the way you scarf down your food and then go after everyone else's, it doesn't surprise us that you would combine those two words together into one word that makes sense to you.

Some more complicated words you can now say include: lightning, airplane (your FAVORITE thing right now), basket, market, onion, butterfly, raining, Tagalog, Adoption Day, buckle, bucket, spider, football, Seahawks, necklace, minutes, morning, butiki (lizard), eyeball, pretty and outside. 

You are really starting to make connections between words and places where/when they are used. For example, when we talk about an airplane, you will point upwards and then to the window and say "outside."

You are starting to use phrases now, too. You can say:

"Get it, please."

"Mama, Daddy, more please."

"I know."

"Open it."

"You read it."

"A-a-a-aeplane - neeeeeeeerrrrrr."

You initiate hand games like Patty Cake and Itsy Bitsy Spider with us. You also like to play Boo! You put your finger to your mouth and whisper when it's time to be quiet, or when it's dark or when you notice someone with their eyes closed. You are beginning to understand the words "off-limits." You like to pull your backpack around the house and pretend you are traveling. And you are really into your cars, planes, helicopters, bikes and boats. And of course, Trumpet continues to be important in your life.

You are down to one longer nap now, from around 11-2, except on the weekends. We think you realize that Mommy and Daddy are home on the weekends and you want to be up with us, so you will only sleep for about an hour. This is both charming and frustrating. Charming because of course, we want to spend time with you, too, since we work all week. And frustrating because we have lots of other little things to get done since we don't have time to get them done on the weekdays. Ah well.

You frequently give us tight hugs and squishy kisses and you know that Ate Delia likes to give you kisses under your armpits, so you will hold up one arm at a time to let her do that before bed. You also give mama "bubble kisses" which you think is funny. Instead of sitting in your bath pool, you now like to hold the showerhead yourself and "wash" your body in the "bass" with the "noap."

You save your best and worst moods for Mommy and Daddy. When you are happy, you are the most gorgeous, fun, sweet, loving and smiley boy in all the world and we can't get enough of you. And when you are angry, you become a very different little boy. Don't worry, we are told this is perfectly normal. Sometimes Mom and Dad just sit back and watch the emotions roll over you. The cries, the shaking head, the stomping feet, the empathic "NOs!", the hits and pinches and bites - those are not the most fun times. BUT, we are trying to teach you that it's okay to have feelings, but that we can control those feelings. Sometimes, you need to calm down before we can have a quick talk and a big hug and sometimes you do an angry dance to stamp out your mad feelings. We know that you just have so much that you want to do and sometimes we don't let you do those things because they are not safe or they are too messy or sometimes we are just too tired after working all day. We are just big meanies, aren't we?

We love watching you "interact" with other kids. Most of the kids you play with are now in the "mine" phase, where every toy is theirs and sharing becomes an issue. You fall into this category too, and you stick up for yourself if a toy gets taken away. You are not intimidated by size.

You are an explorer. And a risk-taker. You would walk off the side of the pool if we weren't looking. You would step down the stairs if we weren't holding your hand. And you would jump off the couch onto the pillows all day if we'd let you. You are super observant. You will often be in a sea of people that you know and just watch, even though everyone else is talking and mingling. You are content to simply look and listen. However, when we went away with our friends for our Family Day celebration, this was the first time that you "talked" in front of people for more than a few seconds. And you really loved Hannah and Soph. In fact, you can't stop saying Hannah's name at the moment. You will say her name and point away from you and then say "home," meaning that Hannah is at her house.

Speaking of HOME...we are saying this word A LOT when we talk to you about The Shoug and the river and our house at HOME. We hope that by December, you will be ready to see your other home and will not be too shocked since we look at pictures of it all the time. It will be COLD, though, and this is not something you will be used to. At all.

You have some new faves in the book department. Aside from the special book Mommy made for you for our first anniversary as a family which has photos of you and all the special people in your life and of the things you like best, here are some of your well-loved books for the time being:

We can't believe you are going to be two years old in just a few short months. You are growing up incredibly fast. We are so proud of you for what you are and we are so blessed to have you as our son. We love you, Aiston.

Squishables,
MamaDaddy*

(* This will be funny when you are older: in the Philippines, we often get called "MaamSir" - a joined greeting even if only one of us is out and about. We thought this might be ingrained in you because you have started calling us "MamaDaddy." We get a kick out of it. But, actually, we think it could just be that rather than say one of our names and possibly not get a response, you say both and that way, at least one of us will answer. That's what we tell ourselves anyway.)