The Fish, The Gup, and The Scoot

One of Stella's favorite activities is going to the library and checking out tons of books to read. She and Dada went this morning after breakfast. When Dada first told her that they were going to go to the library, Stella said "Oh, this is so exciting!" Dada said that she was such an angel at the library, picking out her book, sitting down to read it, and being quiet and not bothering anyone. Her favorite books are by Mo Willems. (the Gerald and Piggie series as well as the Pigeon series). She also got some Olivia (the Pig) books...she's a riot. Last time, she checked out 19 books and she read them all. This time, she checked out 23 books.

She said "This is so exciting" again when she and Dada were in line to check out books. When they got in the car to come home, Stella said, "I can't wait to show Mama my books". So sweet and so adorable!

Father Time keeps on ticking and our children keep on growing. Our little man is a year and a half old today...what!?!? Where did the time go? We cannot believe he will be 2 years old in 6 months. Well, let's get started with a summary of what Des has been up to lately?

Language
Like we stated in a previous post, his language skills (especially verbal communication) are really taking off. He uses a lot of multi-word phrases that contain a combination of a noun/pronoun & a verb to get his thoughts and wants across to us.
Sometimes he whines and uses a combination of verbal and body language to communicate to us. For example, Mama was in the kitchen making breakfast one morning and Des started whining and Mama asked him what he wanted. He took Mama's hand and pulled her forward and said "walk" and led Mama to the pantry. When Mama opened the pantry, he said "yaaay" and started clapping his hands. Then Des pointed to the Cheerios box and said "cheeios". Mama said, you want Cheerios and he very promptly and definitively said "yesh". Desmond's pronunciation and use of "yes" is probably one of the cutest things ever.

Another funny story...in the past, When Dada was driving and made a sharp turn or braked hard, Mama would often say "Wow, wow, wow, easy Daddo". Stella has picked up on this and will say this phrase to Dada now instead of Mama. Well, who else do you think was listening and picked up this phrase? One day, we were all in the car and Dada had to make a quick and jerky left turn out of our housing complex due to the traffic and when he did, Des pipes up before anyone and says "Wow, wow, wow, ease Daddo". LOL! Dada said, "Great, that's just what I need, another backseat driver!!!"

Mama was keeping count of Des's new words after he turned 16 months, but soon, Des's new words got to be too many to keep track of. Here are a list of new words that Mama did write down before she lost track:
tutle (turtle).............tchin (chin).............ease (easy)......................awmost (almost)
ticker (sticker).........eers (ears)..............appy (happy)................fute (flute)
wock (rock).............Tewah (Stella)........Demand (Desmond).......hand
mouse.....................horse.......................cat.................................head
feet...........................fall........................bird or birdie.................house
Mama's....................hot........................wash...............................me
sausage....................bacon....................oh no..............................fun
beans.......................puzzle....................bug
Pete (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
Mittey & Minnie (Mickey & Minnie Mouse)
Ernie, Grover, Zoe, Abby (all characters from Sesame Street)

Singing & Reading
Desmond continues to love singing and will sing along in the car to the various children's CDs we have and will ask for certain songs to be played over and over by saying "adain, adain", meaning "again, again". Some of his favorites are: Muffin Man; Lullaby and Goodnight; Frere Jacques; Apples and Bananas; and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Desmond also loves reading books with us and his attention span for sitting through an entire book is getting longer. He also loves to read by himself (emulating his big sis), opening up a book, and saying out aloud what he thinks the book says.

Personality
Our little Des is rambunctious, mischievous, and 100% BOY. He does things that Stella has never ever have even thought of doing. For example, Des either breaks or pulls the tips off of markers; he scratches shavings off of crayons with his fingernails; he destroys books (ripping pages out and tearing off covers) that Stella has kept in good condition for the past 3 years; likes butting his head against ours, etc. He loves to climb, climb, climb and will often use Mama's body to perfect his climbing skills. If Mama is sitting on the floor, he will come up behind her and literally start climbing up her back. If Mama is lounging on the floor, he will climb on her back and will stand up and balance himself on the most uneven of surfaces (i.e, one foot on Mama's shoulder & another foot on Mama's hips, etc.)

Des is also very mischievous in so many ways. This is probably one of the biggest ways that he is different from Stella. For example, when Stella is watching a TV show or DVD, Des likes to go over to the TV and turn it off and run away despite the many gentle and not so gentle warnings Mama and Dada give him. Although, this is pretty frustrating for Stella, we have to admit that it is pretty funny to watch this little guy trotting up to the TV, turn it off, and trot away as fast as he can with Stella yelling at him and chasing behind him.

Desmond also pulls Stella's or Mama's hair (usually Stella's), hits us on the head or face, and pinches our faces, not because he is malicious, but because he thinks it's fun and doesn't realize it hurts. He used to listen to us when we raised our voices and told him strictly that this is a "no-no". He would usually stop and be on the verge of tears with his bottom lip out when we yelled at him to stop. But nowadays, when he does these things, he knows he is doing a "no-no" and fully expects to get yelled at, and so when we do yell at him, he doesn't care and just sort of smiles or smirks at us or makes funny faces trying to make us laugh, and five seconds later repeats the "no-no". We have tried so many things like not yelling at him, but telling him to be "gentle" when he hits our faces, but so far, he just hits harder while saying "gentle, gentle". We have put him in his crib for a time out, but that doesn't seem to be working because when we yell "no hitting" or "no pulling hair", Des just looks at us and says "crib?", meaning "you guys are going to be put me in my crib now?"

We realize that part of it is that it is fun for Des to get the reaction he does, especially from Stella, when he does these "no-nos". And part of it is Des taking out his frustrations on Stella for all of the things Stella does to him, like snatching away any toy Des has and always telling him what he can and cannot do. In the meantime, all we can do is try to tell Des what is acceptable and not acceptable when it comes to his antics.

Desmond also has a very funny and fun-loving personality. He will often do silly things and laugh while saying "funny, funny"! He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously! He loves wrestling with his Dada and loves to roughhouse with him on the bed. Des also loves to get attacked by the tickle monster (aka Dada) over and over again.

Playing
Desmond loves to play outside and will often go over to the door leading out to the deck and backyard and ask, "outside, outside?". He absolutely loves animals and gets so excited over birdies, cats, squirrels, and a groundhog that we see in our backyard. Lately, we have been seeing a bunny in our backyard, and Des just gets so excited when we spot him through our kitchen windows. Des will stand at the kitchen window, watching the bunny and saying "Bunny, Bunny, Bunny Hi". And when the bunny finally hops away, he gets very sad and says "Bunny, see?" (meaning can I see the bunny?) and Mama has to tell him that the bunny went to his house. Then Des will say, "Bunny hop away, Bunny house". Then hours will pass, and Des will bring up the bunny again, and Mama will say, "I don't know where the bunny is Buddy. Where did it go?", to which Des will respond, "Bunny house" (meaning the bunny went to his house just like you told me earlier Mama). LOL! It is so fun having these little conversations with our little man.

That's a glimpse of our little guy at 18 months. We love you Bud Bud!!!