22 Months

Today hits the 22 month mark for Dylan and to celebrate we all went to a Red Sox game. Unfortunately, by the time we left, they were losing miserably. And, although I didn't actually see much of the game between talking with Mike and playing with Dylan, the plays I did see were really exciting. Dylan's learning new words (yes, plural) every day. At the game, he learned some great Red Sox terms like "bracelet" (the Red Sox Nation gift they gave him upon entrance to the park), "Youk" (what you scream when Kevin Youkulis steps up to bat), "Wally" (the big green monster mascot) and "Papi" (Big Papi is the nick name for David Ortiz). He had a fun time squirming around our seats, charming the folks around us and playing with his longhorn below our seats (don't worry, I plan to disinfect him very well during his tubby in the morning). It was a fun family outing.

Bracelet

Go Red Sox!

Longhorn

Wally

Dylan's vocabulary is growing like mad because his parroting skills are kicking into high gear. He loves to repeat phrases you tell him like "sit down," "put shoes on," and "take socks off." His sentences have gone from the occasional two words only a month ago to much longer. He said his first 4 word sentence while we were in Amsterdam, "Mimaw cereal all gone." He's also getting a little bossy with his sentences. He loves to tell Mommy and Daddy to get in places with him (like the play set or the shower) "Mama IN" or let his Daddy know when he's not pleased that there's been a break in attention to him. For example, last week, after Mike had been pushing Dylan in the swing for literally an hour, Mike stopped to check on fb\email on his phone and Dylan said "all done phone."

We have a bird feeder outside our back door and every time I see a squirrel getting into it, I open the back door and yell "GO AWAY SQUIRREL!" One of Dylan's favorite mimics is opening the door and yelling "GO WA SQRL!" Usually there's not a squirrel in sight, but watching his little body tense and yell to scare them is pretty amusing.

Another speech milestone for this month is that Dylan has said his name! In the past, we could not get him to try and say "Dylan" and he never referred to himself as anything other than "baby" in pictures. A few weeks ago, he finally started referring to himself by name.

He's also been improving his manners. Please is a much used word by the little guy and almost everything is followed by it. When you do something, like say tickle him, and he likes it, he'll smile and say "more please!" Dylan's also learned the word "welcome" as in you're welcome. He doesn't quite use it in the correct context yet, blurting it out at the oddest moments but at least it's in his repertoire somewhere.

My most favorite new phrases of his "hug, awww" and "love you." It's pretty magical for us to hear those words from him and get some lovin's. Those are the moments that get you through some of the more frustrating moments of having a toddler.

Dylan's new favorite game is "on your mark, get set, go" for which he just says "GO!" He likes to tell Mike and I that when he wants us to run around his swing set for his amusement (again with the bossiness). Also, the other night when I was getting ready for bed, he was in between clothes and pjs but right in delirium and started yelling "GO!" and running back and forth between the couch and the stairs in only is diaper. Super cuteness.

As early as a few weeks ago, Dylan didn't really get the concept of stickers. Ever since using some for egg decorations for Easter, he has a new found appreciation of them. We have a sheet of tiny Easter stickers and Dylan's usually sporting one on at least one of his hands all day long.

His hand eye motor skills have had some fine tuning. He works very hard to get things to fit. During his shower, he like to take out the drain plug and then carefully put it back in. Ipod and baby monitor charges are a bit more challenging but he will keep at it until he gets the pieces together.

Dylan's understanding of schedules and social situations continues to improve. He's learning to say sorry and give a hug when we tell him he's hurt someone and needs to say sorry. And on a happier note, when Daddy starts cooking dinner, Dylan knows that Mommy will be home from work soon and starts looking for me at the door. It makes my return home pretty happy when there's a grinning kid smiling out the door at me when I get to the back deck. And if he's not at his back door post and Daddy lets him know I'm home, he'll stop whatever he's doing in any room of the house and run to the back door to see me yelling "Mama home!" Love that boy!

Dylan - 22 Months