Every day with a 21 month old son brings both new challenges and achievements. He is a wonderful little boy, but sometimes, as my wife is finding out this summer, you need to dig deep to find the patience to deal with him. As I am sure every parent knows, the world of a 21 month old is largely centered around him or her. Sure they know you are there and enjoy having you read them books, but everything must be on their terms. We have mostly made it through the hitting phase with our son, you know, the times when he walks right up to you and starts hitting you with the palm of his hand because he has figured out how to hit. Doesn't matter where he is hitting, it all seems to be perfectly OK to him. Yep, that was our son a few weeks ago, and despite our best efforts to curb all hitting, it lingers between him and our pets. It came out of no where, and luckily it didn't last too long. There was just one day when he came over pointed to one of our heads, and when we bent down so he could touch it, he started hitting instead. He would also just randomly walk over and start hitting our legs or arms, whatever struck his fancy. Well, there was no toleration for hitting on our part. He obviously figured out pretty quickly that we didn't enjoy being hit because he doesn't hit us anymore. There were a few times when I had to sit our son in my lap and just hold him still till he calmed down a bit. I think he hated being seated and held so much that he figured hitting wasn't worth the punishment, even though it never lasted longer than about 30 seconds. However, our one area that we are still working on is him walking up to our pets and trying to hit them. He has gotten better, however, we are not out of the woods yet on this one. Oh well, the joys of being a parent. The other area that still needs some work is with throwing things at people. While the hitting has stopped, the throwing of objects has picked up. Our son tried throwing books at me recently in hopes that I would read them to him. I told him since he threw the books that I wasn't going to read them. Despite the fact that he isn't talking yet, he understood quite well and hasn't thrown a book at me since. Yet, there have been a number of times when my wife has been watching him during the day where other objects get thrown.
It is kind of funny to hear the stories despite the fact that it isn't really funny when it happens. My wife will be working in the garden or sitting in a chair in the grass when all of a sudden she will get hit with rocks or dirt. Turning around, there is our son who has just thrown a handful of rocks or a shovel full of dirt at my wife. At his age, its exploration, testing limits, pushing boundaries, and you can tell there isn't any malicious intent behind the throwing, however I can't imagine its that much fun to deal with. I personally have yet to be pelted in the head with a rock or dirt. I'm kind of hoping that it doesn't happen, but we shall see. On top of all the fun we have been having with throwing and hitting, he is getting his two year molars in. Despite what some people might think upon hearing that, it hasn't been that bad at all. There are few times here and there where we can tell he is in some pain, but for the most part, he is acting perfectly normal. Of course, yesterday he went to daycare (one of his two days a week) and sparked a small fever and hives due to the teething. Well, fever alone will send you home from day care, despite the fact that he is acting perfectly normal, and so my wife had to pick him up early, just as everyone else there was getting ready to eat lunch. Such is life. All in all, he is dealing with his teething exceptionally well. So enough about all that stuff, and on to the fun things. Our son's vocabulary, in terms of attempted words and partial words, is definitely growing. At times he will attempt full sentences, however, there is almost none of it that makes much sense right now. Individual words he is getting better at, but the long strings are elusive at best. He is learning more songs and attempting to sing them which is definitely cute. He has his favorites, Baa Baa Blacks Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, and Old MacDonald Had a Farm. With Old Mac, it is really cool because I can start singing it, stop when it gets to Eee I Eee I Oh and he will sing that part for me. Consequently when we get to the part of the animals, I pause and he normally chooses the cow and does the sound when the song calls for it. He is definitely getting to be a lot more fun.
Perhaps my favorite part about every day is at the end when we have to clean up his toys. He is getting really good at helping to put away his toys before going to bed. We ask him to help and he does. I only hopes he continues this habit for years to come. In terms of food intake, he is keeping up with the best of them. For breakfast, we have had to alter what we feed him a little. He got tired of eggs so that went by the wayside. We tried peanut butter on a toasted English muffin which lasted for maybe a couple of weeks before going by the wayside. Now we are on to one of his all time favorites, blue berry pancakes. We make enough batter to last a few days and every morning as I am cooking up my eggs, we cook him three pancakes. Depending on the day, he will either eat 2 or 3, but never just one. Simply put, he loves to eat, as long as it is on his terms and the food of his choosing. We cut out dairy from his diet at the behest of his pediatrician because she felt he was allergic to it, at least mildly. So without cheese or diary milk, we have switched to almond milk, which he absolutely loves. Some days he will drink five full sippy cups full of almond milk in addition to all his water. That does mean he pees a lot more, but at least he is staying hydrated and getting enough calcium. And I swear he is getting taller by the minute. But I guess that is suppossed to happen, that whole growing thing. One last thing before I head off to start the rest of my day. We have a window in the living room through which he can see cars go by on the road. We also have a set of weights on a stand there. One of his latest favorite things to do is to bring a snack over to the window, set the snack on the weights, and just eat and stare out the window at the cars driving by. Its one of his favorite places to be and if we are ever in doubt of where he is, we just have to go to the window and 9 out of 10 times he will be there. What a little bundle of joy! Well, till next time, got to run.
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