A 17 Month Old's Tricks

About three weeks ago Eddie exploded with new words and actions. I didn't even see it coming--he just woke up one day able to point out huge numbers of objects and verbally identify them and, most adorably, started mimicking a lot of our actions. He can also understand most of what I say to him: "Eddie, can you get the newspaper for Mama?" and he trots off across the living room to pick up the paper.

Unfortunately, he's also recognized that the words "don't" and "no" usually mean he's in trouble and right after I say those words, he erupts into tears. Haha, poor kiddo.

I make an effort to avoid saying "Don't do that" or "No!" because I don't want him to get so used to it that he eventually ignores me. So I try to rephrase cautionary statements: "Eddie, please refrain from touching that. It is hot and you might get hurt" or "Hey buddy, why don't you go get that book for me? Let's not pet [read: hit] sister right now...I think she wants to be left alone."

Here are some of his tricks, new and old:

• When we are eating and he sees that someone--anyone--has emptied their dish he points and says, "Mo? Mo!"
• Whenever he sees a bowl of water (on the counter, a rain collector outside, the dog bowl) he points and says, "Waawaa!"
• He can nearly-properly eat with a fork and spoon (but he's still a messy eater)...and he insists on using his own chop sticks (one in each hand) if we are eating with them. I think we'll get him a pair of those spring-loaded/finger-ring chop sticks before his second birthday.
• We don't make a big deal of his many tumbles and falls, unless it is clear that he's REALLY hurt. Mostly we say things like, "Man down!" or "Crash boom!" He usually falls, springs right back up looking confused and then continues on his way. Only sometimes does he fuss and need a reassuring "you're fine..." from us. I'm continually surprised how many parents give me weird looks at the park or store when I don't fuss over him when he falls. Come on, people, he's not that far off the ground to begin with...
  
• He climbs onto the toilet seat in our bathroom, gets my hairbrush out of the toiletries basket, and brushes his hair. If I am sitting down at his level he'll "brush" my hair, too. This is actually a pretty old trick of his.
• When we ask him a question he actually stops to think about his answer before responding. It varies between "Nuh!" (no) and "Oh, yeah!" Although it is cutest when he's upset because his "nuh" and "yeah" are less enthusiastic and muddled with that shakiness your voice gets when you're about to cry. It is so, so, so cute to hear him say "yeeeee--ee--aaa--aahhh."
  
• He insists on using his toothbrush whenever we are brushing our teeth, or whenever he sees his toothbrush. This past weekend we bought him a Thomas the Tank Engine power brush, hoping that it'd make brushing his molars easier for us--so far it is just entertaining to him--we still have to lay him down on the changing mat to get a good brushing session in.
• He flushes the toilet in the hall bathroom constantly. Also, if you come to our house and use the bathroom, please note that the toilet paper is not on the holder anymore (it is in the cupboard behind the toilet) since someone has discovered how fun it is to unroll whole rolls by dragging the end around the entire house.
• He tries to get dressed himself, although he doesn't quite understand the mechanics: he lays his pants onto his lap and wraps his shirts around his shoulder like a scarf. If you ask him to get his boots or shoes he brings them to you. The most adorable thing is when he puts on our shoes or slippers...ahhh! It makes him look so small!
  
• His newest obsession is bubbles. We had bubbles this past summer, but he wasn't interested. Now that it is wintertime and harder to find bubbles at stores like Target, all he wants to do is "baaaa bulls." So far the best ones we found are the small bottles from the party favors section of Wal-Mart. Randomly throughout the day he'll exclaim, "baaaa bulls????" and run through the house collecting the four books of his that have pictures of bubbles in them, then opens them all up to the bubble-bearing page.
  
• He is also slightly obsessed with kitty cats at the moment, although he's always loved kitties. It is in full swing right now. At daycare there's a gray kitty and apparently he chases her, yelling "moaw moaw!" Our neighbors have a small concrete cat statue in their front garden and, if let loose in our front yard, will run to their house to see that cat.
• He can point to his nose and ears when prompted.
• He can make the correct sounds for bee, cow, dog, cat, bird, bear, and crow.
• He can almost say his friends' names: Leila and Jonah. For Leila he'll flip his tongue back and forth on his front teeth, imitating my enunciated pronunciation of her name; for Jonah he simply exclaims, "Juh!"
• Every night when I lay him down in his crib I pull a blanket over him. We've always kept two blankets hung over the side, one for when he goes to sleep and the other one reserved to put over him later that night when I sometimes check on him before I got to bed (he plays in the crib and falls asleep scwunched up into a ball in the corner...I always fear that he's cold so I'll put the reserved blanket over him so I don't have to yank the first blanket out from under him). Recently he's begun pointing to the second blanket (dat!) and having me drape that one on him, too. Luckily he's not attached those two particular blankets--so far he has no "lovey"--I'm sure if I hung 12 blankets on the crib he'd insist that I layer all of them on top of him.
  
• About two weeks ago he started telling us when he has a poopy diaper by pointing to his crotch and saying "ohhhhh, pooooo." His mouth turns into a perfect "o" shape when he says poo...it is adorable! As I discovered during his bath time, he's also able to tell me when he's about to go poo....thank goodness for Costco-sized containers of bleach....