Monday, December 14, 2009

Peter at 20 Months Old

Just some random thoughts and random pictures...

Our little boy is now 20 months old! Wow! He has been growing so much lately! We no longer have a baby boy, we have a full blown toddler in my home. Peter is growing up to be super sweet, friendly, easy-going, curious, brave, enthusiastic, and independent.

Peter opening the door to the play area all by himself!

I am always amazed at how easily he can make friends. He will make friends at the park, in line at the grocery store, or just driving down the street and waving at the driver of another car. Every once in a while I will look at the car next to me and the driver is making faces at me, it takes me a moment to realize that Peter is laughing and pointing at them from the back seat. He is hardly ever shy, he will go up to anyone and try to strike up a friendship.

Peter & his friend Lillian

Every time we walk to the car it is a challenge. There are so many distractions along the way! We have to stop to go down the mini-slide on our porch. We have to stop to touch or hug the trees. We have to stop to pick up and throw some rocks. We have to stop at the basketball court to see the hoops. We have to stop to peek through a hole in the gate. We have to stop to sniff the flowers. When we finally get to the car the goal is to get him in his car seat before he notices that we are parked near the 7/11 because if he sees it he wants to go to the store. We always leave the house atleast 5 minutes early to allow for all this exploring.

One trick to get him to the car: Push the corn popper there!

Peter can do a little Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes…but he thinks his chest is his “shoulders”. When we ask where his elbow is half the time he points at his wrist. Oh well, we are working on it. He knows lots of other body parts and finding them has become one of our favorite distraction games when he is getting cranky.

Peter and Lillian finding each other in the maze.

Peter got his H1N1 shot. He cried. Not terribly surprising. But what is cool is that he gets over it pretty quickly. Before we left the room he had stopped crying and was starting to laugh again. I’m so glad that he recovers pretty quickly. Maybe its because he’s been watching mommy give herself shots his whole life. That’s my theory anyway.

Peter is no cowardly lion!

Elmo is the new obsession. He wakes up every morning, comes into the front room and starts pointing at the tv yelling “Melmo, melmo!” When we are watching our shows he will go to the tv and start pushing buttons trying to change channels to find him. We got a bunch of Elmo DVD’s from the library and a few days ago I found them shoved into the VCR because he was trying to play them. We officially have an Elmo-holic. At the store when we go to the toy aisle he instantly starts pointing to anything Elmo making sure that I see it. “Yes, Peter. Your right, that is Elmo. Say bye bye Elmo!” Thankfully, as long as he is able to say bye-bye we are able to leave relatively peacefully.

Driving the car.

Peter is just beginning to get introduced to potty training. He knows when he has a dirty diaper and if I don’t change it fast enough he started trying to take it off himself. He has gone pee-pee in the potty once but usually just gets practice sitting on it. Small steps. He also LOVES to practice flushing and watching the water go bye-bye. I think our biggest hurdle will be that he just doesn’t have the patience to sit there for long.

Reading on the potty.

Communication is getting better. Peter has starting using his words more and more every day. He does the signs for “more” and “all done”. He is starting to say a few 2 syllable words: cookie, Santa, sticker. I love watching how excited he gets when we understand him. He loves when we give him what he asks for, so much that he starts dancing and jumping up and down. I don’t know how many other people will understand what he is trying to say, I think a lot of it is just me knowing because I’m around a lot.

Peter loves "Dan-da" aka Santa!

Peter has no fear. He is so independent he will just bolt off away from me. He is definitely not a clingy kid. I have to always be at attention because in 10 seconds he can run off and be halfway across the park. I’m glad he has such an adventurous spirit, but it is sure hard to contain him! He just wants to explore everything around him. We can’t go out to restaurants anymore, we can’t go to a movie, we can’t keep him in the stroller, we can’t even really keep him inside the apartment for an entire day. Only time he clings to me is when the landscapers come and the lawn mower or leaf blowers are going, those loud noises send him running to mom.

Peter mowing the lawn.

Peter’s sense of humor is growing by leaps and bounds. When Peter finds that something gets a good laugh he will do it over and over again. This includes hiding then jumping up to scare us. He loves to chase the dog around in circles. He giggles with pure joy and you can’t help but laugh right along with him.

Having fun with his twin.

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