May + June Update

{ 20 months }

When I sit down to write here after a long time away, I often feel like kicking myself a bit for not continuously jotting down all the big––and little––things that seems to happen on a daily basis around here. One day, I know I'm going to regret not remembering every single amazing accomplishment my little man is making. So here's my best attempt to recollect what we've been up to the last couple months!

{ 20 months, brunching at Founding Farmers }

1. Shortly after mastering Mum-ma, Max picked up a handful of other words to tuck in his back pocket: bye, ladder, banana, up, car, go, cup, wa-wa (water), pu-pu (puzzle), and most recently, according to daycare, baaay-beh (baby). But he can't (or won't?) say Dadda. Go figure.

{ 19 months }

2. Around 19 months, Max figured out how to buckle things. Safety buckles on chairs, his Step 2 buggy, diaper changing station, even the top clip of his car seat! Luckily, he hasn't figured out how to unbuckle (yet), because then we'd be in serious trouble!

{ 20.5 months, July Fourth at National Building Museum }

3. I constantly find myself shocked at his bits of knowledge he just whips out when I least expect it. Like, one night, we're heading downstairs, and he suddenly points to the elephant mask on our wall of masks, and goes "Rmmmmmm!" (That may not be technically accurate, but it's the sound I've been making for elephant since he was a wee baby!) Then he points to the next mask, which has a tiny bird beak at the top, and goes "Ca! Ca!" (Also not technically accurate, but the way he cacaws it is quite bird-like!) 

There was an entire month at bedtime where he only wanted to read "The Jordana Book" (what we call a photo book of his cousin). So every night we would flip through the pages, and he would point at all the little details, including the blue Play-doh that she was playing with. I wondered why he was so obsessed with that one picture, and then two days later I saw a can of Play-doh at his daycare. Ohhh! 

During one bath, he started sticking his Yo Gabba Gabbas foam bath toys onto the wall. I had no idea that they would stick to the bath tile when wet––how did he know?? I finally realized he got this idea from a teeny 1" square picture of Jordana in the tub––with Yo Gabba Gabbas on the wall. The way he connects little pieces of information and relates things is just amazing. The other day I said something about branches in the tree, and he points to little sticks/twigs on the ground. Well, there you go.

 

{ 20 months, and he's off . . . in Baltimore! }

4. Despite being an adorable, cheeky baby big boy much of the time, Max's independence is really coming out, full-force. This translates into a battle of wills, sometimes. He's strong-willed, just like his Mum-ma. This is definitely my child. Battles recently fought: You can't hold my keys, because Mum-ma has to drive with the keys; Please let's keep pushing the buggy on the sidewalk, not off the curb and into the road; We don't dump our bowl of food over; You can't walk down the stairs by yourself just yet, hold my hand...

 

{ 20 months, dim sum }

5. His sleep has regressed, in some ways. While he's still sleeping through the night and waking on his own at a VERY respectable 7:15am, it's been hit-or-miss with naptime these days. Sometimes, he also screams a little (tonight it was nearly an hour, and I had to LAY ON THE FLOOR NEXT TO HIS CRIB) when I put him down for bed. Either there's so much going on in his head these days, or I must have had it too easy for the first 18 months of his life and this is payback?

{ 20 months, walking the dog + hanging onto Mum-ma's legs }

6. Two NASTY sicknesses in the last two months. Like, I'm talking, daycare-sent-him-home-illnesses. Poor baby. He just got over the last illness, so I figure I've got about three peaceful weeks until the next. Sigh.