Twenty Months Old And Taking The World By Storm

Today Sam, Isaac and Alex are 20 months old. Ironically, today I got an Explanation of Benefits from our insurance company for Isaac's birth. Yes, his birth. Twenty months after the fact. Hello? Glad they handled the actual delivery in a more timely fashion than the insurance and billing or I would have exploded.

For the record, Isaac's birth was $15,550.73. I wish I had the EOB for Alex's birth (which came within a couple months) and Sam's, which came right around their first birthday. I'm just curious if each boy's total was the same or not.

Anyway...I thought it was time for a quick update on what the boys are doing these days. So here's a peek at life at 20 months old.

***WARNING: Long post ahead.***

Sam

Sam talks the most of the three boys, though they all talk so much that it's kind of a fine dice. Everyone has a vocabulary of easily a hundred words, and they've started talking routinely in three- and four-word sentences. Sam is the one who repeats everything we say though. When we read to the boys Sam will repeat words and phrases as we go along.

He also apparently is paying more attention than I thought. The other day Sam walked up to a picture of the sun that Amelia and I had drawn with sidewalk chalk. He bent down, put his hand in the middle of the sun and said, "Circle."

What?

I didn't know Sam knew any of his shapes! I didn't even know he knew the word "circle." The next morning he pointed to the dots on his diaper and told me again, "Circle." Well, OK. I guess it wasn't a fluke. I think maybe Baby Einstein gets credit for that one.

Sam is not our best eater. It's tough to get him to eat fruits and veggies. He will eat bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, mandarin oranges and grapes pretty consistently. Sometimes he'll eat a few blueberries or a couple peas, but mostly under duress. But if you put a plate of noodles or bread and peanut butter in front of him, look out! Sam's also big on chicken, yogurt (an old favorite that's new again around here), applesauce, and eggs.

Grace is not Sam's strong suit. The boy could trip over his own shadow! He loves to play in the sprinkler, dig in the dirt, and play on the swing. He still loves his baby doll, and often co-opts Amelia's My Little Ponies and dolls when she's not here. (Shhh! Don't tell.) He has recently developed an affinity for her Strawberry Shortcake doll, which he calls "coocake." Perhaps he sees a kindred spirit in a fellow redhead?

Isaac

Isaac is still very much a daredevil. He swings on the big kid swing and hollers for "more push" until he's going almost as high as the swing can go. He has a penchant for going down the slide head first, despite being told over and over not to do that. And Isaac likes to climb: on the window sill, the slide, the picnic table, the benches on the deck -- pretty much anywhere. We're sure he's going to love roller coasters as he gets older.

While Isaac is not quite the parrot that Sam is, he hauled out a five-word sentence the other day. He said, "I want that toy, please." I gave him the toy. Isaac was the first to start saying Sam's name ("Shammy"), and recently starting calling himself "I-man," which is what Jeff calls him most of the time. 

He's the best sleeper, often asking to go "night-night" at naptime and bedtime. And Isaac is attached to his blankie. He'll take a paci, but it's the blankie that really matters to him. I think poor Isaac often would like a little more sleep, but his brothers keep him awake in the evening and wake him up in the morning. (Alex seems to be the Jay Leno of the nursery around here, and Sam's still got an early morning streak.)  

Isaac is a good eater and can really pack the carbs away. He's usually the one who drives our mealtimes, since he's usually the first to ask to eat. Isaac is pretty good about the variety he eats, but really loves bananas, Kix, noodles, blueberries and hot dogs. The kid can put away more than an entire hot dog in one sitting.

But we have learned that our daredevil isn't fearless. Recently we were outside and Isaac suddenly stopped short beside the driveway and started to cry. He turned around and walked the other way, then came back and cried again. He was clearly scared, but I couldn't figure out why. I finally realized that he was scared of his shadow. We talked about it and waved at ourselves, and he decided it was OK, maybe. But even a few weeks later he still looks at his shadow suspiciously.

Alex

Alex is such a good sleeper now. I almost hate to put that in black and white, lest I jinx it! He rarely wakes up at night anymore, though we have gotten smarter and now put him down with multiple pacis. He often hosts the party in the nursery when we put the boys down at night, then when he has the other two all worked up he just goes to sleep.

When Alex is awake, whew! That boy has only two settings: "Off" and "ALEX!" He is an exuberant little boy. His big thing these days is to hoard things. If there are three pacis in the room he wants all three. If there are 17 pieces of sidewalk chalk, he wants all 17. He loves to do puzzles, but gets furious at his brothers when they try to play with the same puzzle. Alex will yell, "Share!" at his brothers when they take puzzle pieces, even though he doesn't want to share with them. I'm pretty sure they know it makes him mad, and that's why they do it. You should see Isaac grab a piece and run for it.

Alex is the best eater of the group. I think I could put anything in front of him, and he would eat it. He loves peas, sweet potatoes, cheese, and, of course, blueberries. When Alex is done eating, he's done. You'd better get rid of his tray fast, because he tends to start throwing his leftovers if you don't get to him soon enough. We're working on that.

"Outshide!" is Alex's cry almost as soon as we get up in the morning. He loves to be outside digging in the dirt, playing in the sandbox, going down the slide, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and pedaling the car up and down the driveway.  He wails when it's time to come in, unless I tell him he can sit on the potty or watch Elmo. (All the boys are big into Elmo right now.)

We've only been potty training for about two weeks, but Alex gets it the best. Of course, the reward for going on the potty is M&Ms, so it's no surprise my big eater would be the most motivated by that! The second time he used the potty successfully, Alex held out his hand for his M&Ms immediately. Now he runs to the cabinet where I keep the M&Ms and yells, "Nee-nees!"  

In general, the boys are busy, busy, busy every day. They are beginning to get longer and leaner and are starting to lose their baby chub. (Well, Sam and Alex anyway. Isaac never had any chub on him.) They surprise me every day with the things they do and say.

And that's just the way it should be.

© Trippin' Mama 2010