20 months

by now, 20 months and some weeks. he is such a little boy. all traces of baby are virtually gone and we are quickly approaching two years. it's still a hard concept for me. two years ago i was pregnant. he has had every first holiday, and almost every second holiday. it's crazy.

i don't have any stat updates as we don't see the dr. until two, but he's slightly heavier than at 18 months and taller for sure. he can reach things that used to be safe from his grasp. he is active and sleeps less at naps. he's had trouble sleeping at night and wakes between 5:45 and 6:45 am sobbing but still tired. i've tried to let him cry it out because honestly, no one in our house is ready to get up then, but most days i have to go in and put him back to sleep for another hour or so. he's always slept later (7:30-8:45am wake up) so i don't believe that he is ready for the day at 5:45 am.

he eats fine but is more independent and picky as the weeks go by. one day he loves kiwi, the very next he gags over it. sometimes he'll eat dinner that the family eats and other times he won't. i dont make two meals but i do add items to his plate (in advance, not after he rejects other food) that i know he will probably eat.

developmentally, he is growing leaps and bounds. we've only had three total EI session (developmental only) but we've spent a considerable amount of time working on structured activities rather than all day open play and it seems to be helping. he is great at puzzles already and he will spend a bit more time doing things he doesn't prefer. verbally, he is just beginning to advance. a day or two before his EI eval he said his first officially word: car. that was less than a month ago (i think?).

for my own sake, here are the words he can now say:
mama (technically his first word, but it hadn't been used with purpose)

dada


ball
bee
baby
bus
boat
bye
car
go
hi
more
uh-oh

he knows most of his body parts, the signs for more, please, all done, thank you and help, and a variety of animal noises/actions. his fish mouth is particularly cute ;) he threads beads, matches items, plays with play doh, uses finger paints - typical kid stuff.

we start speech therapy this monday so i am anxious to see how it helps him. he seems to finally be interested in saying words with purpose and understanding their connection with communication and objects, so i'm hopeful that he'll catch up in no time and chatter my ear off soon :)