The Dotsons: 20 Months Old

We are getting so close to Caleb turning 2 - I am already kinda feeling sad about it! How is he growing up so fast? Just 4 more months until he turns 2...boohooo! This also means that in just 4 short months, Aubrey will be here! Oh my! And I think I have my hands full now.....

Here's what our boy has been up to this past month.

* I know I'm forgetting some, but these are new words he's been saying:

Caleb ("kay-kay" or "kee-kee") - As I said last month, he likes to point out and name his family members in pictures. We were looking at his newborn pictures and he pointed out "mama", "dada" and "kay-kay" too. I wasn't 100% sure that he was attempting to say his own name b/c he talks nonsensical words all the time. Then we were visiting my aunt & uncle and Caleb saw himself in a mirror, pointed to his reflection and yelled "kay-kay!" so that confirmed that he was, in fact, trying to say his name! If you point at him and ask "who's that?" he will answer "kay-kay."

bowl ("bow" with no "l") - I have no idea why he cares about saying bowl b/c we rarely feed him out of a bowl, but he just started pointing to the bowls in the cabinet one day out of the blue and saying bowl.

Mimi ("me-me") - Mimi is Rhett's mom. Caleb learned how to say this when they kept him while we went to SC. Poor G-Dad (Rhett's dad)...he is not known as anything just yet.

Granny/Grandpa (both "ge-ge") - when we went to my parents' house for Dogwood weekend and he started calling both my mom and dad "ge-ge." hey, whatever works!

vitamin is now "minamin" (instead of "minin") so we are getting a little closer to the actual pronunciation, ha!

please is now "pee-aaa" (instead of "pee") - don't know why he added the extra "aaa" sound on the end!

airplane/plane ("pane") - he still loves it when planes fly over the house.

bee - as in the insect (just like it sounds) - we have some foam bath tiles (like the foam alphabet letters that stick to the tub) that have various pictures on them. He can name a lot of them. I have a video of him naming them that I need to post.

tree ("tee") - another one he picked up from the bath tiles (and from being outside so much)

moon ("moo") - another one he picked up from the bath tiles

food ("foo") - for some reason, when we feed the dogs Caleb points at their food and says "foo"

boat ("bo")

pants ("pas")

grapes ("gay")

eggs (just the "e" sound, no "ggs") - the boy loves scrambled eggs with shredded cheese on top.

spoon ("poon")

fork ("foa")

carrots ("kay-ka")

chicken (can't describe this one)

blue ("boo")

green ("geen") - he can pretty consistently point out the color green (we are working on colors a little)

red (just "re" - no "d" sound)

turtle ("too")

foot ("foo") - sounds very similar to "food" but he says this while pointing at his feet so he's definitely saying it.

diaper ("boppa")

* I weighed him on our scale (he actually stood still!) a couple days ago and it said 28.2 lbs. He is still tall and lean with broad shoulders. Hmm...wonder where he gets that from!? He may look like me/my side of the family but so far, he is built like his daddy.

* He's wearing sizes 18 and 24 months and some 2T. It depends on the brand. His pants/shorts are all 18 months. Shirts are mostly 24 months, but in the Kohl's brand (Jumping Beans) he has to wear a 2T. I think his tops are larger sizes than his bottoms because he's got a long torso and broad shoulders, so the 18 month tops are too short and narrow. Shoes are 6 1/2 wide. Diapers are size 4 during the day and size 5 at night.

* We have fully entered the temper tantrum stage and oh.my.word. I might go bald from pulling out my hair! I remember his first real fit at 12 months. Between probably 12-18 months, he would throw fits but not every day. Since 18 months, they've been gradually increasing and now, he will throw a fit about anything at any time! It doesn't take much to set him off (usually just the word "no" will do the trick). My patience and resolve are being tested!

* Along the same lines, he's really starting to push and test boundaries more and more!

* He has renamed Mr.Bear (the bear from his monthly pics). He started calling him "BeBe" so that is his name now!

* He is sleeping 10-12 hours at night, which is great. Naps aren't the greatest anymore, but I guess not terrible...1-1.5 hours, usually closer to just an hour. Every once in a while, he will sleep 2+ hours but this is rare. When it's time for a nap or bedtime, he points at the fan for it to be turned on (a small fan we use for noise).

* He still sleeps with 3 stuffed animals - Ruff Ruff ("fuf-fuf"), Pirate the Puppy (just "pup-pie"), and a stuffed giraffe that he calls "Ra" (short for giRAffe, I am assuming). For both naps and at night, he tucks either Ruff Ruff or Ra under his belly when he lays down to go to sleep. I don't know how he sleeps laying on top of something, but he does it every night. He likes Pirate, but not nearly as much as Ruff Ruff or Ra.

* He sleeps at the end of his crib, turned sideways, with his legs bent up...usually sticking out through the railing against the wall. He immediately lays in this spot when you put him down. He does move and turn sometimes during the night but for the most part, he sleeps like this at the end of the crib.

* He is so sweet - he kisses his toys! (usually his cars, stuffed animals and anything that is animal-related, like some animal puzzle pieces, and his foam bath tiles) It is the cutest thing. This will probably embarass him when he's older, but he hugs and kisses his stuffed animals all the time.

* He loves picking up and playing with sticks in the yard....oh, and hitting mama's flowers and plants with them. (we are battling over this every time we go outside!)

* His favorite kid's songs are probably Old MacDonald and B-I-N-G-O. For Old MacDonald, when we get to the "e-i-e-i-o" part, he says "yi-yi-yi-yi" - that is his contribution to the song and he is quite proud of himself for it!

* This one is gross, but when I have to pick up dog poop in the backyard, Caleb follows me and points to the pooper scooper saying "poopoo" - LOL

* Can't remember the last time I mentioned anything about his animal sounds, but he knows quite a few and will say them consistently. Favorites include: cow ("brrrr" which kinda sounds like a moo of sorts), duck ("kak-kak"), lion (a growling sound), kitty cat ("mow-mow"), sheep ("baa"), horse (a squeeky sound that is his version of a neigh), monkey ("hoo-hoo"), bird ("peep-peep")

* He L-O-V-E-S playing with the dogs and they are starting to play with him a little. Well, Rio is the most playful and he and Caleb have a little game they play that involves Caleb hiding Rio's ball from him. It's pretty funny to watch. Tag will also get in on the action a little (although he tries to stay away from Caleb as much as possible). Roux doesn't really play with toys much (she's weird) but she tolerates the most physical abuse from Caleb! We do not encourage or allow this, it's just the way it goes with a little boy.

* He is getting into everything...even more than when he first started being mobile. I thought this would get better but he just keeps getting into things he's not supposed to be in. I guess he's just testing me. Examples include: opening/closing the fireplace screen and also trying to climb up on the fireplace, climbing on top of the sub-woofer in the living room (trying to get to the phone), getting into my makeup drawer in the bathroom, digging around in our nightstand drawers, opening and removing clothes from my dresser drawers, getting into things in our closet, grabbing anything and everything he can reach from the countertops, digging around in the dog food bin and trying to eat dog food, splashing in the dogs' water bowl, pushing buttons on our TV/DVD/music equipment in the entertainment center...and the list goes on! ha! Some of these things can be prevented by keeping certain doors closed, but I do slip up sometimes....mostly, he's just into everything no matter what I do to prevent it!

* I think he knows more body parts now: head, hair, eyes, mouth, ears, nose, teeth, tongue, belly, hands, fingers, foot/feet, toes, knees, arms, and legs.

Ok, here are some pictures. Most of these are from just a handful of days lately instead of the entire month. I did quite a few posts this month so I've used most of my pics already.

Checking out little sister's lovey...probably wondering what this weird-looking color is! :) I don't think there was anything pink in our house before finding out about Aubrey!

mmm...ravioli!

"Do I have something on my face?"

It was really hot last weekend so we busted out the sprinkler and kiddie pool. Caleb had a blast in the sprinkler!

he even mowed a little...

playing in the pool...

That same day, we gave him his first popsicle! At first, he could not figure out that he needed to bite into it so he just put it in his mouth without doing anything. Once I showed him how to bite it, he really enjoyed it.