An interesting thing happened yesterday in regards to our son. To sum it up before I even begin, it seems that he understands more of what we say than he lets on. Let me explain. Yesterday I came home early due to roads resembling a third world country, cold rain ponding everywhere, and a general dismal feeling that the day brought with it. As I was home early, I got to spend a little more time with my son in the afternoon than I normally do. There was one point where he started throwing stepping on some books, throwing them, and in general treating them like toys. Not wanting to let this kind of activity continue, I took the two books that he was playing with and placed them on an end table in our living room. He immediately went over, took one book and threw it on the ground and then tried to grab the other one. Before he could get the other book, I picked up the one he dropped and put it back on the table telling him that we only read one book at a time. Well, he tried throwing the other book on the ground so he could grab the first one. I repeated my actions and statement of how we only need one book at a time to read, also telling him that books are not toys and that we don't throw them around. We went back and forth a number of times until one point when he reached for the first book he threw and I said again, "We only take one book at a time to read and we don't throw them on the floor, please don't throw that one on the floor." Either my repeated actions sunk in or he finally understood what I was saying, took his hand off the first book (I think that he finally figured out that I knew he was going to throw it) and grabbed the second book, carried it over to me, plopped himself down in my lap, and opened the book. I then commenced reading the book to him for longer than he has ever sat to have a book read to him. Most times when he grabs a book and sits down to have either my wife or I read it to him, we make it through a page or two before he closes the book, gets up, and goes to something else. I was quite amazed both at the amount of time he sat to have the book read to him and the fact that it seemed like he understood what I was saying. It is tough to tell what he understands at this point because he hasn't started talking yet. However, he stares intently at us when we are talking to him and I believe that he understands a lot of what we tell him. At his age, which is 16 months, he has a mind of his own and rarely listens to what we tell him.
From what I have read so far about toddlers, 18 months is the time of terror, the time where if they don't get what they want, they flip out, freak out, and throw temper tantrums. Luckily for us, our son has not been that bad so far. He definitely has a mind of his own and definitely exhibits his desire to do what he wants, when he wants. That being said, it has not been to overly hard thus far keeping him from doing certain things. He does freak out a little, cry and partially scream, however if we distract him and bring him to a different part of the house, he does a little better and calms down more quickly than if we kept him in the same place and persistently told him no, no, no, no, no. What we also found helps a lot is if we explain why he shouldn't do something. The longer the explanation, the more likely he will stop what he is doing. I have a theory that after enough explanation, he gets tired of hearing it, decides it is not worth his effort and moves on. Either that or he actually understands everything we are saying and decides that it would be best to listen to his parents. (Ha, the latter is highly unlikely, I know). Perhaps the most difficult area to get him to move away from is his incessant desire to be held if we are standing. It has gotten a lot better, but there are certain times when all he wants to do is be held, despite the fact that we might be in the middle of doing something else. Don't get me wrong, its not that we don't like holding him, he is just getting heavy and holding him for long periods of time can get tiring. The best option when he is one of those moods is to simply sit on the floor. As soon as we do that, he usually moves on to something else to entertain him. All in all, he is getting more self reliant in terms of entertaining himself and it is an amazing thing to watch. His latest little tendency is to carry a container of some sorts, bag, bowl, box; and collect different toys to put in whatever he is carrying. He carries these objects to another part of the house, takes them out, arranges them, and depending on his mood, either packs them away again or moves on to something else. It is the cutest thing to watch. That is not all that he has taken a liking to of late.
The other two big things that he likes to do now is color, or at least play with crayons and paper (the actual coloring is mostly just slamming the crayons on the paper and making little marks). Yet even in daycare, he loves any art project that they do, which happens to be one every day. Regardless of what it is, he throws himself into it with complete abandon. We kind of figured he would love art as my wife is a ceramicist and I myself love photography, writing, and anything involving working with my hands. It is just cool to see that love manifest itself within him. The other thing he loves to do now is to try and climb everything. From couches to the speakers of our entertainment center, to chairs, to his train toy chest, its all about climbing right now. I love the fact that he climbs all over his train toy chest as it used to be mine and I used to do the same exact thing. The train toy chest is really cool, it is about three and a half feet tall and is a locomotive. Where the engine would be on a normal train is where the actual toy chest is, opened on the side. It actually has a fake smoke stack, steam release valve, and bell that actually works. The area for the driver of the train has a little seat inside of it that opens to hold more toys. He loves to open up the side of the toy chest and climb completely inside. If he doesn't go inside, he climbs up on top where the smoke stack is and stands up there. In addition to climbing up the side, he has also climbed through the window of the engineer's compartment to get to the smokestack (which is hollow and can hold a small amount of objects). He is amazingly fun right now, frustrating in his desire to not listen at times, but still an really fun. He is overly active, running everywhere, curious about everything, and I can't wait to see what he gets into next. OK, so I can wait because I am enjoying every minute of what he does, I guess I just wonder what will come next. I guess I will just have to wait and see what he does next. Should be fun regardless of what it is.
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