19 months already?!
~Brennan is quite the talker! When asked, he'll repeat almost every word he hears. If he's being a stinker, he'll smile and giggle instead of repeating you. He's also using more words and phrases independently each day!
~While talking spontaneously, his pronunciation is becoming more an more accurate. For example, "accles" are now "apples"; "curcle" is "purple"; and "belly butt" is now "belly button"
~He says his name! At times, it sounds more like "Brenden", but it's cute either way!
~In addition to completing phrases in books, Brennan is also finishing song lyrics if we pause while singing.
~He requests many songs: "Ashes" for Ring Around the Rosey; "Twinkle" for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; "Happy" for If You're Happy and You Know It; "Dinkie" for Skinamarink"; "A, C, C's" for the alphabet; "Baby" for Rock-A-Bye Baby; and "E, I, E, I" or "Donald" for Old McDonald.
~When he sees several of the same object, he's likely to state "More ____" or "Two ____", even if there are more than two of the object.
~When looking at people in books, he's able to label and distinguish boys and girls.
~His fascination for shoes continues. He enjoys walking in others' shoes. He'll also state the owner of the shoes: "Mommy shoes!", "Daddy shoes!"
~He's cut his last canine tooth! Farewell, swollen gums and drool! ...until his 2 year molars.
~After slipping in the tub, we think Brennan may have his first scar. Ouch!
~Mommy has returned to working full time. Mommy-itis usually strikes in the morning when I tell him I need to leave. Some mornings, he goes and plays without a second thought. Other mornings, the babysitter has to pry him off of me. I almost always get a long bear hug before I leave. He has a great time there and has a lot of fun after Mommy leaves.
~After recent visits with his grandparents on both sides, Brennan frequently talks about grandma and grandpa. When asked who he is going to see, where he is going, etc, he immediately responds, "Mama! Papa! Mama! Papa!"
~Brennan enjoys counting. He's counted to 12 several times, skipping 9. He doesn't seem to have one-to-one correspondence, but it's still impressive!
~He's mastering more colors: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and orange. He occasionally identifies pink, grey, white, and black.
~Going to the grocery store is quite entertaining, including for other shoppers. "Bread! Apples! Nanas! Milk! Yogurt! Crackers! Cookies! Hot dogs! Pickles! Olives!"
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Counting!
Brennan impressed us today as he counted out loud to 10 several times! Mommy and Brennan were playing with blocks. As he removed them from the pegs, Mommy counted "one, two, three, four, five." She stopped and Brennan continued on, "six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" After Mommy/Daddy started with "one", he counted independently several times!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
18 Month Doctor Appointment
Brennan had his 18 month well baby doctor appointment today. The doctor was very pleased with his language and motor skills. He was amused with Brennan's curiosity as he investigated the examination room. Everything looks great! The doctor joked about Brennan being a future football or basketball player, based on his above average size.
His eczema is returning after Brennan is outside in high temperatures. We're starting to apply his prescription cream periodically, which is helping. Luckily, Brennan doesn't seem bothered by his dry spots.
Brennan had his follow up appointment with the ENT last week. His ears look great! We won't need to return unless he begins to have chronic ear infections again. Since his ears look fine, we wish his ENT appointment was after his appointment today. We anticipate the 90 seconds we spent with the ENT will be expensive.
He received his second Hep A vaccination today. He wasn't thrilled about it, but after some snuggles and a crocodile tear, he was happy again. With the exception of flu shots and any possible changes in vaccination age recommendations, he shouldn't need another vaccine until he is 5 years old.
Current stats:
Length: 35 inches; 90-95th percentile (Nurse: "Holy Toledo! 35 inches!")
Weight: 27 lbs, 11 oz; 75th percentile
Head: 75th percentile
His eczema is returning after Brennan is outside in high temperatures. We're starting to apply his prescription cream periodically, which is helping. Luckily, Brennan doesn't seem bothered by his dry spots.
Brennan had his follow up appointment with the ENT last week. His ears look great! We won't need to return unless he begins to have chronic ear infections again. Since his ears look fine, we wish his ENT appointment was after his appointment today. We anticipate the 90 seconds we spent with the ENT will be expensive.
He received his second Hep A vaccination today. He wasn't thrilled about it, but after some snuggles and a crocodile tear, he was happy again. With the exception of flu shots and any possible changes in vaccination age recommendations, he shouldn't need another vaccine until he is 5 years old.
Current stats:
Length: 35 inches; 90-95th percentile (Nurse: "Holy Toledo! 35 inches!")
Weight: 27 lbs, 11 oz; 75th percentile
Head: 75th percentile
Saturday, July 23, 2011
18 Month Photo Shoot
We had Brennan's 18 month professional pictures taken today. As usual, Brennan was quite a ham! We asked Brennan if he was ready when the photographer was set up. After most background and prop changes, he would go to the backdrop, sit down and exclaim, "Ready!" The photographer encountered several technical difficulties before and after the photo shoot, but Brennan was pretty patient while we waited!
The winning shot
The winning shot
Thursday, July 21, 2011
18 Months!
Brennan is 18 months old! It's hard to believe that he's already a year and a half!
~The past month has been huge for language acquisition! Out of curiosity, we made a list of words Brennan uses independently. At last count, I tallied 116 words! Words only used when repeated after we say them weren't included. If so, the list would seem endless! It's very exciting! His pronunciation is pretty accurate, although he has some trouble with consonant-vowel-consonant words. For example, "cup" is "pup" and "cat" is "tat", yet he can say words like "cracker" and "bubble" perfectly!
~Two of our favorite words are please ("peez") and love you ("of-vu"). He'll say please independently, which makes his requests hard to resist. He'll repeat love you after we say it. We look forward to the day he says it first!
~He's using some two and three word phrases. Some examples include "More please", "More please cracker", "No, Mommy", and "Me made a mess"
~When talking and not understood, Brennan will typically repeat his phrases/babbles over and over again.
~We recently started introducing colors. He has mastered purple, blue, and red. Every once in awhile, he will identify yellow and green.
~He continues to enjoy listening to and looking at books. We've found that if you pause towards the end of sentences/phrases, Brennan may finish it. We've always enjoyed reading to him, but it's becoming even more enjoyable with him joining in! Currently, he's a big fan of Dr. Seuss books and will request many by name ("Ham" for Green Eggs and Ham, "Pop on Pop" for Hop on Pop", "Eyes" for "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut", and "Tat in Dat" for "Cat in the Hat").
~He seems to really enjoy having Mommy and Daddy home at the same time. For example, at dinner, he'll state "Mommy! Daddy!" repeatedly. He also ask about the other parent when they are not around. He has developed a case of Mommy-itis when we're not at home or when we have visitors. Mommy must be in sight at all times.
~Brennan has transitioned to taking one nap a day. We considered transitioning him for a while since he wasn't consistently taking morning naps at the babysitter's house during the week. After only taking one twenty-minute nap in a four day period, we decided to try removing it from his routine. He made the transition fairly well, with a few days of crankiness after waking up from his afternoon nap. He goes to bed between 6:30-7:00pm and wakes up between 6:00-6:45am. He typically sleeps for one measly hour at 1:00pm. I've attempted to extend the nap with no luck. His mood is fine for the rest of the day, but I imagine he needs more than one hour of sleep during the day! Grandma Mealy and Aunt Adrianna have successfully put him back to sleep by telling him that nap time is not over. This technique does not work for Mommy or Daddy.
~When told that his food may be hot, Brennan will sometimes hand his food to Mommy or Daddy to blow on it, or blow on it himself. His blowing is more like a raspberry, so be careful if he already has a mouth full of food!
~He enjoys listening to nursery rhymes and children's songs. He'll ask for Ring Around the Rosey ("Ashes") and does some of the hand movements for Itsy Bitsy Spider.
~I am loving my summer vacation with Brennan! We've enjoyed playing at home, playdates with friends, a trip to the zoo, a trip to the Memphis Kiddie Park, going on walks, and a visit with the Mealy family in Cincinnati. My break is flying by, so I'm trying to cram in as much play time as possible!
~Watching Brennan interact with others is neat! It's not uncommon for him to say "hi" to strangers in the grocery store or approach children/adults at parks and flash a smile and giggle.
~He enjoys climbing on furniture and toys, this includes standing on some toys not meant to be stood upon.
~Brennan enjoys going upstairs ("Us-sayers") but has no interest in learning how to go down stairs.
~He's much more willing to give kisses, which we love! They continue to be open mouth kisses, which can leave the recipient messy, but they are worth it!
~The past month has been huge for language acquisition! Out of curiosity, we made a list of words Brennan uses independently. At last count, I tallied 116 words! Words only used when repeated after we say them weren't included. If so, the list would seem endless! It's very exciting! His pronunciation is pretty accurate, although he has some trouble with consonant-vowel-consonant words. For example, "cup" is "pup" and "cat" is "tat", yet he can say words like "cracker" and "bubble" perfectly!
~Two of our favorite words are please ("peez") and love you ("of-vu"). He'll say please independently, which makes his requests hard to resist. He'll repeat love you after we say it. We look forward to the day he says it first!
~He's using some two and three word phrases. Some examples include "More please", "More please cracker", "No, Mommy", and "Me made a mess"
~When talking and not understood, Brennan will typically repeat his phrases/babbles over and over again.
~We recently started introducing colors. He has mastered purple, blue, and red. Every once in awhile, he will identify yellow and green.
~He continues to enjoy listening to and looking at books. We've found that if you pause towards the end of sentences/phrases, Brennan may finish it. We've always enjoyed reading to him, but it's becoming even more enjoyable with him joining in! Currently, he's a big fan of Dr. Seuss books and will request many by name ("Ham" for Green Eggs and Ham, "Pop on Pop" for Hop on Pop", "Eyes" for "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut", and "Tat in Dat" for "Cat in the Hat").
~He seems to really enjoy having Mommy and Daddy home at the same time. For example, at dinner, he'll state "Mommy! Daddy!" repeatedly. He also ask about the other parent when they are not around. He has developed a case of Mommy-itis when we're not at home or when we have visitors. Mommy must be in sight at all times.
~Brennan has transitioned to taking one nap a day. We considered transitioning him for a while since he wasn't consistently taking morning naps at the babysitter's house during the week. After only taking one twenty-minute nap in a four day period, we decided to try removing it from his routine. He made the transition fairly well, with a few days of crankiness after waking up from his afternoon nap. He goes to bed between 6:30-7:00pm and wakes up between 6:00-6:45am. He typically sleeps for one measly hour at 1:00pm. I've attempted to extend the nap with no luck. His mood is fine for the rest of the day, but I imagine he needs more than one hour of sleep during the day! Grandma Mealy and Aunt Adrianna have successfully put him back to sleep by telling him that nap time is not over. This technique does not work for Mommy or Daddy.
~When told that his food may be hot, Brennan will sometimes hand his food to Mommy or Daddy to blow on it, or blow on it himself. His blowing is more like a raspberry, so be careful if he already has a mouth full of food!
~He enjoys listening to nursery rhymes and children's songs. He'll ask for Ring Around the Rosey ("Ashes") and does some of the hand movements for Itsy Bitsy Spider.
~I am loving my summer vacation with Brennan! We've enjoyed playing at home, playdates with friends, a trip to the zoo, a trip to the Memphis Kiddie Park, going on walks, and a visit with the Mealy family in Cincinnati. My break is flying by, so I'm trying to cram in as much play time as possible!
~Watching Brennan interact with others is neat! It's not uncommon for him to say "hi" to strangers in the grocery store or approach children/adults at parks and flash a smile and giggle.
~He enjoys climbing on furniture and toys, this includes standing on some toys not meant to be stood upon.
~Brennan enjoys going upstairs ("Us-sayers") but has no interest in learning how to go down stairs.
~He's much more willing to give kisses, which we love! They continue to be open mouth kisses, which can leave the recipient messy, but they are worth it!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Chatterbox
Brennan has always been a talker. We've reached an exciting period of extreme language acquisition. It's so exciting! He'll regularly repeat the last word you say and his pronunciations are almost always spot on. In addition to labeling objects in books, he also enjoys naming items in his environment. It's not uncommon for him to go from one object to another, to another ("blocks, bubbles, milk, bread, shoes, door, car...").
Amongst all of Brennan's talking, Mommy is finding it difficult to talk to others on the telephone with him around. As soon as he hears me talking on the phone, Brennan will immediately run to me and quickly repeat "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" and will become upset if he isn't given the phone. As found in an experiment this evening, this behavior will occur even if Daddy is in the room when Mommy is on the telephone!
Amongst all of Brennan's talking, Mommy is finding it difficult to talk to others on the telephone with him around. As soon as he hears me talking on the phone, Brennan will immediately run to me and quickly repeat "Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?" and will become upset if he isn't given the phone. As found in an experiment this evening, this behavior will occur even if Daddy is in the room when Mommy is on the telephone!
Friday, June 24, 2011
First This, Then That
Brennan has always benefited from routines and is able to anticipate what comes next. We've noticed that he's also verbalizing and initiating his routines. Just two examples from today:
~While in the kitchen, I asked Brennan if he wanted to go to the mailbox. He immediately stopped what he was doing, ran to me, exclaiming "Up! Up!" Before I had a chance to pick him up, he ran to the garage door, stating "Door! Door!" Seeing the mat of shoes by the door, he began saying "Shoes! Shoes!". Brennan grabbed Mommy's shoes, brought them to me, and put them on the floor. Thanks, kiddo!
~I asked Brennan if he wanted to go to Mommy and Daddy's room while I put away our laundry. Instead, he went into his bedroom and approached his changing table, pointed to the changing pad, calling out "Boop! Boop!" Thinking he had soiled his diaper, I followed him into his room and asked he if needed a new diaper. Next, Brennan exclaimed, "Book!", picked out a book from his bookshelf, and returned to his changing table. While he hadn't "booped", he was due for a fresh diaper!
~While in the kitchen, I asked Brennan if he wanted to go to the mailbox. He immediately stopped what he was doing, ran to me, exclaiming "Up! Up!" Before I had a chance to pick him up, he ran to the garage door, stating "Door! Door!" Seeing the mat of shoes by the door, he began saying "Shoes! Shoes!". Brennan grabbed Mommy's shoes, brought them to me, and put them on the floor. Thanks, kiddo!
~I asked Brennan if he wanted to go to Mommy and Daddy's room while I put away our laundry. Instead, he went into his bedroom and approached his changing table, pointed to the changing pad, calling out "Boop! Boop!" Thinking he had soiled his diaper, I followed him into his room and asked he if needed a new diaper. Next, Brennan exclaimed, "Book!", picked out a book from his bookshelf, and returned to his changing table. While he hadn't "booped", he was due for a fresh diaper!
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