He will do anything to get our attention again and he's not above trickery. He's been known to fake an injury by holding his head and saying "ow" (since he knows I will drop everything to comfort him and love on him when he's hurt). Usually he just tries to physically remove me from the offending activity by grabbing my hand to pull me away or he will push my legs to lead me away from the distraction.
When he knows he has our full attention he will put on his version of a show. Some of his favorite "performances" include repeating all the different words he knows, pretending to talk on the phone, riding his toys, playing with manipulative/educational toys (puzzles, shape sorter, ect.) and, of course, dancing. He loves for us to watch, clap our hands and praise him - he lights up and beams!
- The new words he learned this month: arm, mine, hat, book, color, dice, dirty, go, me, hug, snow, couscous, busted, balloon, key, in, towel, cookie, candy.
- He also started using some new signs: thank you, water.
- He has started using two syllables for many of his words like wa-ter and Da-ddy.
- He can pull himself forward on his ride on toys. He used to just push himself backwards.
- He is able to turn his electronic toys on and off.
- He is able to identify just about every body part from his head all the way to his toes
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- He asks us to identify letters (by pointing) and even recognizes a few (by saying them) including 0 & E.
- When he is ready for nite-nite he grabs his ladybug pillow pet, puts it at the head of the bed and lays down on it.
- He will spin around in circles.
- He says two after any other number he hears.
- He insists on climbing over the rail of his toddler bed instead of climbing straight on to the mattress.
- He loves whip cream (since Allen sneaks him little bits now and then) and will imitate the "khrwhool" sound when he sees the can.
- He is fascinated by the blow dryer and loves to carry it around. He imitates blow drying his hair when it's off, but since he wont stop asking, we will often turn it on cool and let him actually dry his hair. He gets so excited!
- He will stack cans and jars either from our fridge or from the shelves at the grocery store.
- He does karate kicks with Allen. While Allen only pretends to kick Samuel, he actually kicks his dad!
- If we aren't watching closely he will shimmy under the baby gate on the basement door frame and head downstairs. We've caught him down there twice, just roaming around, which has lead us to keep the door completely closed a lot more!
- He will do back bends.
- He opens up and positions my arms so he can lay snuggled up with me.
- He will often lay down when we tell him it's time to change his diaper.
- He will blow actual raspberries on our tummies which makes all of us crack up.
- He sometimes says "uh oh, poop" after he goes.
- He likes to hide in the racks at clothing stores which scares me so much!
- He will sometimes initiates kisses without us having to ask first.
- He likes to put his hands down the back of his pants.
- When we are riding in the car he will call out for me ("ma-ma") so when I'm in the passenger seat I will reach back and hold his hand and he plays with my fingers.
- He likes to play with pieces of my hair.
- He wakes up dancing to the radio music when he naps in the car.
- He says "Nana" and points when he hears my mom's voice on the phone.
- He says "woo, woo, woo" when he sees flashing lights (like police cars and fire trucks).
- He refers to himself as "I", usually as in "I - something," to indicate that he wants or has an item.
- He says 3 word phrases like "I got car" or "I need ma-ma."
- He has to put his hands in my armpits to fall asleep. He will say "and (hand)" to let me know wants me to make my armpits available so he can put his hands in them.
- He says either "Da-da" or "Nana" when he sees the phone since that's who I talk to most often and almost always on speakerphone.
- He will wipe his nose on whatever is available, including our clothing, furniture or a blanket. One day he wiped his nose on my sock which made me giggle so he did it over and over and over until it became a game that made us both laugh!
