20 Months!

It is extremely hard to believe, but Grant is 20 months old today! He is sleeping extra early this morning (it's 8am as I'm starting this), so hopefully I will be able to get this typed, and then I can lay down during his nap this afternoon!

The past couple of weeks, it seems like Grant has been changing and doing new things so quickly. The other day, I noticed that when I talk to him, I fully expect that he understands most of what I say. And I've noticed that I don't talk to him as much like a baby anymore....maybe because he has become so much more communicative recently. Just in the past 20 days or so, he'll point to objects and say what they are without even being prompted (and many of those words we haven't even taught him yet!). Some of his newest words are:

bubble
Elmo ("memmo")
sock
baby
watch
Drew (sounds like "goo")
shower
fish
Eeyore ("eo")
sausage ("saus")
tool
soap
milk ("meo")
phone
bear
brush
toes
bug

Like I said, many of these he has picked up and said without us specifically teaching them to him. He is so proud of himself when he points to something and says the word (especially when he sees how proud we are of him). As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he is pointing to things and saying what they are!

Some other things he's been doing:

- He says "please" whenever he wants anything. For example, he'll point to the door if he wants to go outside, or he'll point to the vacuum if he wants us to vacuum with him, and say "peas." He especially does this with things he doesn't get to do very often (almost like he thinks he'll get it if he asks nicely!).

- I got this idea from Leah: Grant had a big problem with throwing his food when he didn't want anymore, so we started putting his highchair up against a wall (for time-out) when he did that. He's gotten SO much better! He rarely throws his food anymore. Now when he's done, he reaches for the side of his booster seat and says "down." What an improvement!!

- He knows where Dean keeps his cell phone.....in one of the pockets of his shorts. Grant will start reaching into his shorts, saying "phone" over and over again!

- If I'm sitting on the floor and he wants me to come to a different room with him, he will physically try to pick me up to drag me where he wants to go!

- He's taken a few showers with me recently, especially after coming in from playing in the backyard. He sees the way I put my shampoo on, and now any time he grabs something that looks like a shampoo bottle, he'll act like he's pouring it into his hands, then he acts like he's rubbing it into his hair! So cute!!!

- He loves to stack blocks, bubble containers and other things.

- He loves watching Dean bounce rubber balls on the tile. Dean gets really silly and bounces them under his legs, off the wall, etc. Grant laughs and laughs! Now he has started bringing the balls to us when he wants us to bounce them (although I'm not nearly as entertaining as Daddy!).

- A couple nights ago, we were in the backyard and he took the water hose over to the sprinkler and tried to attach it! He's trying to copy a lot of little things that he sees us do.

- He LOVES tools! Dean's had his toolbag out a lot lately for all the projects we've been doing. As soon as he sees that green toolbag, Grant walks over to it and says "tools" until we give him something inside to play with. Then he walks around with whatever we've given him, saying "tools" over and over again and showing us what he has!

- When we see bugs, he points and says "bug" and also has started to say "ew," because he hears me say it. It's funny how little kids have no fear (or maybe just boys).....a couple of times he's seen bugs walking on the floor, and he'll bend down and just pick them up!

- When he hears other people clapping, he looks up and immediately starts clapping too.

- He says "mama" and "dada" a lot now, which he actually hasn't done much before now! Last night I went to meet Megan in town, and Dean said he kept going to the front door asking for Mama. And before he went to bed, he kept saying it again. When Dean's at work, he'll go to the door and ask for Dada quite a bit too.

- Last night when Dean was bathing Grant, he was sure that Grant said "more bubbles." That would be his first two word phrase! We've been giving him bubble baths lately, which he loves!!! It makes bathtime much more fun. I don't know why we haven't done that before!