Naughty...

Yes, Felix has become a Naughty Boy. Or, as his daycare puts it, aggressive. He's taking out his frustrations by biting and hitting, pinching and pulling. I bought him two books this past weekend: Teeth Are Not For Biting and Hands Are Not For Hitting. We've read them several times (all but twice because he just wants to read them). The other two times were because he hit or bit. I'm hoping he finds a new, non-violent outlet for his anger, and soon.

On a brighter note, his vocabulary and understanding of things around him is continuing to astonish us. He says the names of all his classmates and most of the people in our neighborhood. He uses possessives correctly most of the time (Mama's car or Ari's mama). One of the most interesting phrases he's used so far was "water tower broken, new one". A few weeks earlier, I had pointed out the broken water tower near our house and told them we'd be getting a new one soon. It's amazing that he retained that and randomly decided to use the phrase. His memory is definitely getting better. And last night, he was cracking himself up by trying to repeat the EIEIO part of Old MacDonald. It came out EEEIO instead.

Felix likes to run around a lot and he's rather amusing to watch. Yesterday, he ran all the way down to the park, his little legs moving this way and that, like he'd be a perfect candidate to work at the Ministry of Silly Walks. We've got our own little Crazylegs. :o)

Felix: 22 mos

Felixese 201

Welcome to Advanced Felixese. I realized that as Felix gets older, he won't pronounce words in such cute, mindboggling ways. Therefore, I wanted to make a list of some of his pronunciations before they're gone.

• "Dongizoo" = triangle
• "Dockiloo" = crocodile
• "Epilat" = elephant
• "Lilad" = lizard
• "Apatis" = octopus
• "Buttaby" = butterfly
• "Diesisor" = dinosaur
• "Buckaball" = basketball
• "Myno" = tomato or guitar
• "Buckabus" = asparagus
• "Civiyoos" = cinnamon rolls
• "Ovove" = olive
• "Raisis" = raisins
• "Boobolly" = blueberry
• "I love lou" = I love you
• "Bucking" = building
• "Segung" = ceiling
• "Abisass" = ambulance
• "Acopyou" = helicopter
• "Vyos" = flowers

By the way, he's just two words shy of 500! He's got two word phrases down, and is starting to string three words together (though often unconnected). He's also quite good at naming all the big trucks while we're driving. He likes to see garbage trucks, tankers, cement trucks, semis, buses, delivery ("divvy") trucks, among many others.

Felix: 21 mos

Happy or Merry?

The time of chocolate and ham, eggs and bunnies is upon us. Of course, I mean Easter. Usually, I feel Eastertime is the beginning of spring, but after yesterday's daylong rain/sleet/snow/thunderfest, I'm having doubts spring will ever get here.

Felix is doing well, mostly. Everyone says he's growing taller, though his pants still seem long on him. He's starting to use two word phrases with more regularity, usually describing the scene around us (e.g., "bird fly" and "Rugby naughty"). His longest phrase so far is "delivery truck, beep beep beep". He's liking all the sports on TV, easily differentiating between basketball, hockey, baseball and football. On the downside, he throws a tantrum every time we bring him inside, regardless of the time, weather, or his hunger. It's just a phase...

In honor of Easter, a little comparison (April 4, 2010 and April 1, 2011):

Felix: 21 mos

400 Words!

I've been trying to keep track of all of the words Felix knows, says, and uses correctly. And this morning, I realized that he has hit 400 words! Not surprisingly, foods edge out verbs for top spot. I'm sure there are others that I've missed, but this is pretty amazing, considering the average number of words kids are supposed to know and use at his age (20-21 months) is 10 to 40. Wow!

Also on a slightly different note, we decided it was time to break Felix of his Nuk habit, starting on the 1st. We did it by "breaking" his Nuk (I snipped off a tiny little bit from the end). He immediately decided something was wrong and that it was broken. That first night was rough. He cried for an hour. Each night has gotten progressively easier (in fact, he's slept through the night the last two nights - knock on wood). The only downside has been that he's been waking by screaming a few times - I think due to growing pains, and he's been tougher to put down. He no longer lays down quietly while awake and I walk out of the room. Now when I leave the room, he cries for Mama for a few minutes before settling down. Hopefully this will end soon, but so far so good!

Felix: 20 mos

¡Viva Mexico!

After a week of fun in the sun in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, we are back to cold reality. It was a nice escape, as we basked in sunny warm weather, played in the sand, and explored our natural-habitat resort.

This was our first trip with Felix, and despite apprehension about flying and traveling with him, everything went well. He did well on the way down, alternately playing and sleeping. We stayed at the Iberostar Tucán with the rest of the folks Grandma Maxine brought down with her. It was the best resort we've been to so far, in my opinion. I liked the "jungle" around the inner part of the complex, complete with trails and faux ruins. Our room overlooked the jungle, and we could see ripening bananas, geckos, and even spotted a monkey from our balcony.

Since we had Felix around, we didn't plan any excursions for ourselves, even though we had ready and willing watchers for him. We just weren't interested this time. Instead, we spent the majority of our time on the beach or near the pool. Felix really enjoyed it. He liked to play in the sand, smashing sandcastles, jumping, and (unfortunately) throwing sand. Much of it ended up in his mouth. We took him into the pools and into the waves on the beach. He learned so many new words, like peacock (even identifying them by their sound alone), wave, ocean, beach, sand, papaya, pool, and lizard among many others.

Felix provided us with much entertainment during the trip. He really liked all the airplanes that flew overhead, and when one passed and was out of earshot, he started asking for "more airplane". Sorry, buddy! He also started off calling boats buses or airplanes, but we got him to say boat by the end of the trip. He also liked the monkeys and "lilads" (lizards). And having the resort be all-inclusive was great, because Felix ate his fill (especially of exotic fruits like papaya and pineapple).

In all, we had a fabulous, relaxing trip. Thanks, Grandma!!

Felix: 20 mos

"I love you!"

Things have been cruising along at our house as we wait for winter to end and emerge from hibernation. Nick recently moved his office, and I took a stained glass workshop, which was awesome. But enough about us...

Felix has managed to grow about an inch and cut his last four front teeth. He's also developed several new interests:

• Climbing (especially into his high chair)
• Shoveling (I'd go so far as to say this is a minor obsession, not an interest)
• Identifying every semi and bus he sees while we're driving.
• Showing off his knowledge of body parts (in which he will randomly poke you in the nose and eyes, saying the name of each - beware). He knows most of his parts, including tough ones like elbows, wrists, back, hips, and chest.

He also is answering questions appropriately (we've added "yes" to his vocabulary) and he has definite opinions about what he wants to do/wear/eat. I just tried to count them up, and he can say well over 250 words. He's also starting to say phrases, including the subject of this post (last night, aw!). This morning, he said "Go Bucky", though to nothing in particular. This past weekend, I taught him how you can make an M into a W. Last night he stumped me, though. We were playing with blocks and he kept saying "idareck". I'd repeat it back to him, and he'd correct me if I didn't say it right. I had no idea what he was talking about until I was putting him to bed and he pointed at his I'm a T. Rex book. Aha! He was saying "I'm a T. Rex"! Why yes, yes you are a Fe-Rex. :o)

Felix: 19 mos

First the Snow, then the Cold

The 1-2 punch of massive snow and bitter cold is not making me a happy camper. My every-season-but-winter-loving self is exceedingly glad to be headed to Mexico next month, if only to get away from all the snow surrounding us.

Front yard, pre-blizzard

Backyard, pre-blizzard

Front yard, after the clean-up

Backyard, post-blizzard

Felix and the Deck Snowdrift

Felix: 19 mos