RL at 21 Months

Somehow we are just over 2 months away from RL's 2nd birthday...and I've been meaning to record some of the things he's been up to all summer. He's a busy guy, which is part of the reason I guess I haven't gotten to that til now. My list of his favorite words is long lost, and time is short, but I'll hit some highlights.

The soon-to-be big brother is probably still mostly unaware of what's about to happen, but occasionally he does touch my tummy and say "baybay" (not to be confused with his identical pronunciation of "bagel"...with RL contextual clues are a necessity!). And every now and then he'll put down his trucks and trains and push around the stroller or acknowledge a baby doll. On this day, I happened to catch an unprecedented act of baby caretaking. Let's hope he's as kind when his brother arrives!


He, of all our kids, is the most into shoes early on. Most times I get him out of bed, he immediately asks for his shoes, though only we can understand what he's asking for since he says it in a really unique way that's reminiscent of the sound one might make when punched in the stomach (and just as intense). He brings us our shoes and often wears them himself...unfortunately, those most plentiful and accessible to him are often pink!


"Truck!" and a "baybay" for breakfast...a great combo!


Lately he seems a little more trustworthy when it comes to sitting and looking at books with paper pages. So far "The Little Engine that Could" is a hit...with him, because he loves trains, and with me, because I could sit and listen to his accompanying sound effect all day. Everytime he sees a train he says "tain" and then follows it up with a heart-melting "WooWoo!" I can usually get one or two of these at bedtime, too, when we brush his teeth with his Thomas toothpaste.


Sometimes now he'll actually play alongside his sisters, and this day I found him hanging out with them in their room, him happily perched on LL's bed with his truck and an interesting hat. At least it's not pink.


His other favorite piece of clothing: "pant," which is usually requested right after shoes!

His way of letting us know something hurt: "Bonk!" (He went to Claire saying this to get some sympathy when she was here and he busted his lip!)

His way of declaring independence in feeding himself (he's been saying this for many months): "Hold!" as in, "I want to hold the spoon myself!"

He seems to have developed his own little system for pronunciation which is surprisingly consistent and, if you catch on to it, makes figuring out what he's saying alot easier. He's not much for ending sounds on words, but if a word has two syllables he almost always either says the first one twice or adds on a second vowel sound (as in "ra-a" for cracker...he's not big on beginning blends, either, making bread "reh".)

He distinguishes a few different kinds of trucks, calling mail trucks "meh" and garbage trucks "gar".

He remembers that "DaDa" is at "wuk" some mornings during breakfast and is thrilled when he gets home!