Ah Toddlerhood

21 Months Old

I have decided that as long as Buddy has knuckle dimples, he's still my baby. Unfortunately, I can see that full-fledged toddlerhood (or the "Twos") isn't far off. Along with some "mild" daily tantrums, Buddy also has been doing some really fun/funny things lately. I thought I ought to report on some of them before I forget.

Here are some recent Buddy stories:

Last month Buddy and I went on a trip to Macy's to buy D a birthday gift. Every time we passed a mirror, Buddy had to take the opportunity to kiss his reflection. Now, I'm not sure how sanitary this is, or what the sales people thought, but Buddy was really enjoying himself. Ever since that point, Buddy always makes sure to kiss his reflection in every mirror he sees.

Buddy has become a real back seat driver. Whenever we have to stop at a red light, I hear him exclaim, "go, go, go" from the back seat. We've been working to explain that green means go and red means stop. This has spun into one of his favorite games on walks around the neighborhood. He likes to stop randomly and yell, "Stop!" Sometimes this will be followed by him turning in a circle, then he will start running again with a very robust, "GO!"

It is obvious that Buddy enjoys visiting his family. Almost daily, when we are getting ready to run errands, he will run to the door and ask,"go see Papa?" He loves his Grandpa B. Sometimes you can also hear him running through a mental list of his family members. "Mama, Dada, Papa, Granma, Rava (Cousin Ava), Casey, Lynny"..etc

Buddy loves when we sing to him and has started to participate as well. I love that he enjoys requesting specific songs. At any given moment he may request "Bus song" (Wheels on the Bus), "abc's" (one of many versions), "push me" (Push me on a Swing from the Wiggles), "row boat" (Row, Row, Row Your Boat). Bus song is by far his favorite right now. He especially loves the babies on the bus, the mamas on the bus and the ABC's on the bus. ("The "o" on the bus says ah, ah, ah." or "The "b" on the bus says buh, buh, buh," etc.)


Buddy chillin' with Mama and baby. Check out that arm draping action.

We've been trying to prepare him for the impending birth of his baby sister. We're pretty sure that he doesn't completely get the concept, but I do get the impression that he knows there's something up with Mama's ever expanding belly. When we ask him where Mama's baby is, he'll pat my stomach then laugh as if it's a joke. The other day at lunchtime, he insisted on trying to feed the baby and made me hold a cracker and then his milk up to my belly. I think he will be a very good big brother.

Alphabet Love

As many of you know, for the last few months, Buddy has manifested a true passion for letters. It started with him recognizing and subsequently falling in love with the letter "o". Since that moment, it has blossomed into something quite impressive.

Robbie, 20 months

By about 18 months of age, Buddy was able to recognize and pronounce almost every letter of the alphabet. At that point, I purchased him some magnetic letters for the fridge, thinking that he would get tired of them eventually (just like he does with all of the toys I buy for him). Did he tire of them? Nope. Now, at 20 months of age, he still plays with them every day.

Also on a daily basis, he enjoys his set of alphabet cards, blocks, a variety of ABC books as well as his brand new alphabet poster. He loves to request the alphabet song, so we've had to learn multiple versions, just to mix it up. I so enjoy his sweet request of "abc's?" which can mean he wants one of us to sing the song or that he is demanding to play an alphabet game we found online.

Over the last few weeks, he has begun learning the sounds the letters make. He can now do almost all of the letter sounds. It's amazing to see him pick these things up and how much fun he has doing it. I love the way my mother-in-law put it, "He acts like the letters are his good friends."

We've been trying to get a good video to showcase his talent. D took this video tonight. Enjoy!