twenty one month update.

Appearance and Growth:
I can kind of understand why his brother gets mistaken for a girl – he does have a very pretty face and soft curls, and is often seen sporting leggings or a dress or armed with a Princess Aurora doll. This one though? He is mainly dressed in joggers, Crocs, a striped tshirt and carries a toy shark. There is really nothing to suggest ‘girl’ apart from that fabulous hair, (which by the way is still determinedly growing vertically over his face, despite my efforts to train it into a side parting) and yet. He gets mistaken for a girl all. the. time. I never let it bother me and it certainly doesn’t bother him, but come on people! This is Brighton in 2015, do we really still make assumptions about children based solely on hair length!?

On the Move:
The fact that the Mancub was a late jumper (like, 3 and a half, still couldn’t jump with two feet), meant that it was a bit of a shock when #2 started jumping last month. I had to remind myself that he’s not some kind of physical prodigy and just… normal. Hah! He does love bouncing around though and is now determined to walk down all steps on his own and heaven help you if you try to hurry him along.

Food and Drink:
He continues to eat lots of new foods the older he gets. He has (finally!) discovered a love of eggs, which makes getting protein (other than peanut butter) into him a lot easier. He’s started having porridge for his breakfast (a huge bowl with plenty of cinnamon and raisins), and enjoys snacking on breadsticks, houmous, most fruits, marmite crackers and smoothies. I’d like him to eat a bit more fish than just fish fingers, and a wider variety of veg (although at least he eats peas now, hallelujah), but on the whole I think he gets a balanced diet and despite him being a second child he still doesn’t get much sugar, so that’s something.

Sleep:
His night time sleep remains solid if a little early (6.45pm – 5.30am) and he loves getting into his cot and snuggling down with one of his La Las (a telly tubby doll). His nap has moved later in the day, so he now goes down after lunch and sleeps from 12.30 – 2.30pm. Since this happened he has been waking up happier again, so clearly something in that change means he is getting better rest.

Playing:
Him and his brother have so much fun at the moment. They both love toy animals and #2 still has a real love of putting things into other things, taking them out again and repeating this for hours (the miniature cannon and ball from a pirate ship is his favourite). Mainly though they are just playing silly imaginary games with lots of hiding and chasing and racing and tickling. They are super cute together and I’m grateful that they rarely squabble.

Language:
Okay, here we go! Suddenly his language has rocketed and he has gone from words that I was still just about managing to keep a count of to saying 3 or 4 words at a time. This morning he dropped his book as he walking to the car and exclaimed, ‘Oh no! Animal book!’. He’s starting to use verbs to describe things that are happening and he likes saying, ‘Got it’ and ‘I did it!’ when he’s proud of something and ‘Read it’ when he wants a book. He likes answering questions about himself and if I ask him what he is he usually tells me ‘yellow animal’ or ‘baby’, although yesterday he told me ‘Moon… on a boat’ and then ran around the room shouting ‘Moon Boat!’, which just about sums him up really. He knows a lot of his colours now and if there are two of something he will point them out and say, ‘doo’.

Personality:
This month he has been so, so affectionate, asking for lots of cuddles, doling out big, sloppy kisses and snuggling on our laps. If he gets too rough and I say, ‘Show me how you’re gentle’, he will ever so carefully stroke my face while he looks at me earnestly. He is always on the move, running around and fetching things and singing and spinning in circles and still has that glint in his eye of one who knows how to be cheeky and one who a few nights ago climbed on top of the table while I was out of the room and stole his brother’s spaghetti from under his nose. He has a whine that can drive you mad and I am very grateful that he is learning more words, so that this is happening less. But he’s pretty easy going, doesn’t tend to get bothered by other kids even when they’re rough or snatch from him, and will get stuck in at singing groups (calling More! More! after every song) and goes off on his own a lot of playgrounds. He has his clingy days for sure (especially if there are people he doesn’t know well around, and especially if they dare to look at him or try to talk to him), but at the same time he’s kind of a breeze and makes us all so happy.