Linnaeus 22.0

Sprout's been playing with rhyming & word play lately. When his sleep sack (prounounced 'sheek shack') is mentioned, he'll start making up words that sound like it: feek fack, leek lack. I got into the action & he was repeating after me: meek mack, week wack, peek pack, zeek zack, & so on.

He's also getting much more able to express what's wrong. He started crying in bed one morning so I asked what was wrong & he replied, "Bite tongue!" Not much I could do for him there, but sometimes it's really useful to know why he's upset. It'd be awesome if he can learn how to tell us that his mouth hurts because of his two-year-old molars--I've assumed that's been bugging him lately, but I'm not sure. In any case, I'm happy to be past the days of playing guessing games & trying to discern the object of his gaze while he cried, "Amah! Amah!" (I want).

Though his language skills are improving by the day, he's still doing some funny things. He seems to like pronouncing polysyllabic words, but he says them with a bit of a pause between syllables, so it sounds more like a sentence: Buh-too--fyaiy. Sometimes he adds extra syllables, as in boo-doon-doon-doon (balloon). At the moment he's started blurring the distinction between monkey & Mikey, so I can never tell if he's talking about a toy monkey (or one in his books, or the marmosets at the Aquarium) or his Uncle Mikey or the Mikey in The Airplane Ride. His sentences are still typically just two or three words, so there's not a lot of context to go on.

Sprout 'breastfeeding' at Whole Foods

Something I also find hilarious is when he does something he knows he's not supposed to, then chastens himself immediately afterward with an earnest little, "No!" It's as if he just remembers after the fact that he's not supposed to screech inside/whack the wall with a toy/etc.

Monday Sprout had a lot of fun playing in, around & with the bassinet that was just returned to us. I was disassembling it & he wanted to 'sleep' inside it, then started playing with the parts. A year & a half ago when he was still sleeping in there, I didn't imagine him climbing in & out, playing with the canopy & talking about it all during the process.

His role playing has really taken off lately. New this week: breastfeeding his toys--mostly his monkey.  He also makes his doll cover its eyes & play peekaboo or dance with him. I came into the kitchen recently to catch him 'washing' his hands in his play kitchen sink. His horses & cow will 'eat grass' & actually, so does dolly sometimes.

A highlight of the week was when Oma & Opa came to visit. They came bearing gifts: a toy electric guitar which thankfully has a reasonable volume setting & some clothing in sizes 4-6T. He is wearing mostly 2T stuff & the occasional 3T, so these won't fit for a while! His stash of clothing & shoes to grow into is soon going to be bigger than what fits him. Yikes.

It's cliche, I know, but I still can't believe my baby is going to be two soon. When people ask how old he is, I've started saying, "He'll be two in August," or "Almost two," rather than 22 months. For comparison, I looked back at the update I wrote year ago: I'd just lowered the crib base, though he wasn't pulling himself up yet. I think he might have been eating more then than he does now. He must be eating enough, however, as he's gained at least seven pounds since June 2011. He's moved up from the 40th percentile to the 80th in the past year. He's not particularly tall or chubby, however, so I'm not sure where he's putting it! I think he's just built of denser stuff, not unlike his Papa, who often comes out on the wrong side of the line in BMI charts, despite testing in the low range of healthy for body fat. But enough about the charts & percentiles: it's easy to see he's a happy, healthy little boy.

I'll leave you with a short video of Sprout's new-found harmonica skills: he's moved past the one-note wonder stage & figured out the sliding sideways part!