Parenthood.22

19.5 months

Little ​L​eopard can't say his name, but when I ask him what his name is, he does say, Chester, which is a silly nickname I often call him.

His cute renamings: he calls sticks, trees. He calls giraffes, neck. Both make sense to me.

It's amazing to me how seamlessly the imagination develops. Little Leopard h​as alw​ays imitated imaginatively, pretending to drink from a cup, pretending to eat non existent food, p​retending to play with a toy that he sees in a book​. He turned an old orange juice container into a bubble container and uses a plastic fork as the bubble wand. Then he holds up the bubble wand to his giraffe ('Big Neck") for him to blow. Talk about imagination!

N​ow we're on to verbs!​

​

​I swear at dinner he said, "I want some more." ​

​Now he's just chattering and chattering--a running monologue while he plays, telling us stories we can't understand. ​

We visited the geese at the pond and he started imitating their ​honks--and he was pretty convincing. 

He's started saying, "Ohhhh nooo!!" with a lot of dramatic voice intonations--I think he's copying Francisco and he's got it down. He also says, "Yay-star-yay-star-yay-star" whenever he sees a star, because he's so happy about it. It's also very cute when he says, "Hey Mama! Hey Mama!" (Although sometimes he teases me by calling me, "Mommy," since he knows I don't like it.)

​
20.5 months

This was one of his worst sicknesses--I misunderstood the nurse (or she misspoke)--re​gardless, I didn't take him to the doctor till day 4 of fever and by then there were two ear infections and inflamed lungs. So we started on two medicines. The antibiotics didn't work so we had to go in (once again, the doctor didn't seem to want to see him, but this time I forced them to) and get another kind. After 10 days of fever, it is finally going down. I feel bad for my baby and for myself--loads of night wakings and dealing with a fussy baby really takes it out of you. Thankfully the semester had ended. If the kid has to be sick, at least he has good timing.

He's been speaking in full sentences for a couple of weeks. He's been saying his name, too. He can even say, "I love you," while crossing his arms on his chest and swaying. It is darling. 

Everything I ask him at the moment, he answers in the negative, although two seconds later, he changes his mind and agrees to my suggestion. I think that his will is just a new-found phenomenon and he likes exercising it. 

Tonight at supper, the kid told us about his day--that he painted butterflies (three syllables! turns out he meant dragonflies, but close enough!), that he fell and hit his head. Incredible the linguistic leaps he's making. Mind-blowing to have a conversation with the kid at supper. Truly unimaginable (I mean, if I had a better imagination I would imagine that it would happen someday, but that it happened already just baffles me). 

He's very into possessives now. Everything is Little Leopard's or Mama's or Daddy's or "my's."

He's finally better from this sickness after two full weeks of family suffering. I'm so happy again now that he's happy. He's delightful and charming and we are all full of renewed affection. Life is infinitely better.