War Paint

Joshua is at the stage where he is starting to imitate different things. Over the winter, his face got pretty dry and so we put lotion on his face each night. Eventually, Joshua started to put his finger in the jar and start putting the lotion on his own face. Cute, I know. Now, Joshua equates any lotion looking liquid to face lotion. Ketchup! With his chicken fingers, we poured some ketchup on his plate. He put his finger in the ketchup and began to smear it on his face. War paint!

Airbeh And Understanding Your Child

They say when your child is born that you learn their different cries, and you can figure out when they are hungry, need to be changed, need a nap, unhappy, etc... This is a baby's earliest form of communication. When I was a new mom, I said to myself, "That is utter bullshit, I have no clue what my baby is telling me". Yet, one day, it did click and I was able to interpret Joshua's secret language as a newborn - his specific cries.

Now as a toddler, we are back to something similar in interpreting Joshua's language to try to understand what he wants. There is no special interpretation needed when Joshua says "No". Anyone and everyone knows exactly what Joshua is saying. However, there are certain words that Joshua says and it is only Mama and Dada who know what he is trying to tell us. Below are a few of my favorites:

Airbeh - Hairbrush
Airpay - Airplane
Met - Wet
Dar - Star

And my favorite gesture to communicate something:

Smiles and gives a chuckle - Yes

What Can I Say Today?

I decided to keep a mini list and jot down some of the words that Joshua can say. Without writing them down, I didn't really know his total numbers. In counting them today, I came up with a list of about 55 words. I think an average 18 month toddler has an average vocabulary of about 10 words, so Joshua is doing pretty well at this point. There were a lot of words that I didn't even realize that Joshua knew. I ran around the house and asked Joshua, "Do you know what this is called?" He would answer me "bed", "pen" or "teeth", etc... I was amazed, because I had no clue that Joshua knew what those things or called, or more to the point how to say them.

There were plenty of things that I asked Joshua about and he didn't know what they were called. Anytime I asked Joshua about something unfamiliar, he called it "baby". I don't know how he came up with calling everything "baby." "Joshua, what is this called" pointing to a hammer. "Baby!". Uh, ok. So, next time you see Joshua and he calls you "baby", just think of it as his term of endearment for you.

18 Months

18 months. Wow, I can't believe it. Time just seems to be flying by. Joshua is getting so big. He can finally be labled a "walker". He is getting better with that each day and is now even standing up by himself from the middle of the floor as opposed to using furniture or the wall to get up. I am still not used to Joshua walking around the house. It is still a little odd to me. Joshua is talking more and probably has a vocabulary of about 35-40 words. He can say a couple of short sentences such as "all done", "no more monkeys" and "up above". He is following more commands and recognizing more songs. He likes to imitate "Itsy Bity Spider". Joshua's new thing is telling us "no". He knows that he is not supposed to touch the outlets, so he likes to point to them and say "No, no, no". Joshua also likes to have mini tantrums at times as he doesn't like when we take things away or not give him something he wants. So, basically Joshua is a typical toddler. I really love this age. Since he is more active and verbal it is a lot of fun. We switched from a music class to a gym class on Fridays, and Joshua loves to play with all of the equipment.

Dance to the Music

As I have mentioned before, Joshua loves music. When he hears music, he loves to stomp his feet and dance to the music. It can be music on his toy, on the music player, etc... Earlier this week, Joshua had fun dancing to the hold music on my work conference call. (I wish I got that on video).

Food Goes In Your Mouth

Not in your ear and not on your head... (It is so much fun to clean mashed bananas out of a baby's hair).



It started at 9 months with Cheerios. Joshua, like most other babies at that age, developed the pincer grasp and started self-feeding himself Cheerios - the true first solids. (I know at 6 months Joshua started "solids" with rice cereal, but there is nothing solid about that). After the Cheerios, the solid foods became more varied and more food went in his mouth than on his bib, on the floor, etc... Around 14 months or so, Joshua even learned how to hold a spoon and fork by himself to feed. (Still working on that). Over the past few days, Joshua has gotten bored with eating through his mouth. He thinks to himself, "Hey, I have holes in my ears, how about I put food in my ears and eat that way"? Fun times all around! I am not sure what has possessed Joshua to start putting his fork and food in his ears but each time he does it, he smiles as if he is having the best time. I am hoping this phase is very short-lived.