Baby diary: 21 months 3 weeks
Oct. 2nd, 2020 05:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petronia It's been nearly a month since I've posted! Alan's only gone to two speech therapy appointments in the interim, because I had a COVID scare (he went to my parents for the weekend because I was fall cleaning, and ended up staying with them for a week). Incidentally, he ate a big lunch before the first one then got carsick and threw up on the way. So we were half an hour late and used a whole Bounty roll and wet wipes pack trying to get presentable, and he wore my jacket to meet the therapist. =_= My parents had to hose down the car seat afterward.
Alan's speech therapist is a young man, C. They play with cars and blocks and bubble blowers and such, and meanwhile C prompts Alan to say words, use the baby sign for "more," and to make eye contact by withholding toys. Alan enjoys himself but seems to find it exhausting, and after 45 minutes or so attempts to take his leave (says "out", fiddles with door knob, brings me my purse). He's continued to use the "more" sign, though, usually when prompted, or in situations where he's been prompted before - like getting a bottle in the middle of the night, or... with C. :P Meanwhile, he has become a bit more vocal and "talks" to himself while playing, even though I mostly don't understand what he says other than "uh oh" and "vroom vroom". But he has enough words now that there is communication happening, eg. "hot," "out," "go," "on."
He also learnt a few numbers and letters, like 10 - can recognize "10" on a block and say "ten" unprompted. I think he remembers 8, 9, 10 better than 1, 2, 3 - maybe because they come at the end of the count?
Other new things this month: raging vehicle maniac mode. Will watch 10-minute videos on, say, how the hydraulic piston system is installed in an excavator (this sort of thing evidently has quite a viewership base among the preschool set). I got him "Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site" and a 100 trucks picture book. Took the side off the crib, which Alan wasn't using at all, so now he will at least nap in it during the afternoon. While at his grandparents Alan learnt how to walk (not crawl) up and down the stairs by himself, holding onto the railing. He's started experimenting with sliding down the playground slide on his bum (previously only tummy, but it rucks up his shirt and now the plastic is cold, I guess). Good at catching a large ball at short distances, can also kick one around. Climbs more: I have my coffee pods on a shelf and he now steps up onto the shoe rack in order to get them in the morning, to "help" me make coffee. I'm not very worried about him climbing, because he's not a daredevil, and he's still a tall kid with not a lot of core strength. XD; Having experimented at the playground, I know he can't get high enough by himself to be a problem.
I got him a very cute yellow push bike, but his legs are too long to sit well and he completely rejected it. He was considerably more interested when it was disassembled, immediately figured out how the IKEA-style wrench worked, etc. Had a lot of fun the other day playing with yo-yo string and threading it through his other toys. Think I'll order some arts and crafts stuff, as we'll be stuck inside more.
Appetite is recently good, after having been poor for a lot of the summer. Eats apples and cherry tomatoes happily, will accept scrambled eggs if made to a hotel chef's standard. Still very into chasing squirrels and pigeons in the park. I've been introducing him to fall concepts, like coloured leaves and conkers (I gathered a whole bunch from a tochinoki tree in the Botanical Garden). No trick or treating, of course, and I'm sad at the missed opportunity to put Vulcan ears on him and take him to Comic-con - I suspect he'll default to it eventually anyway, given his eyebrows, but it really would have been maximal cuteness this year.
Alan's speech therapist is a young man, C. They play with cars and blocks and bubble blowers and such, and meanwhile C prompts Alan to say words, use the baby sign for "more," and to make eye contact by withholding toys. Alan enjoys himself but seems to find it exhausting, and after 45 minutes or so attempts to take his leave (says "out", fiddles with door knob, brings me my purse). He's continued to use the "more" sign, though, usually when prompted, or in situations where he's been prompted before - like getting a bottle in the middle of the night, or... with C. :P Meanwhile, he has become a bit more vocal and "talks" to himself while playing, even though I mostly don't understand what he says other than "uh oh" and "vroom vroom". But he has enough words now that there is communication happening, eg. "hot," "out," "go," "on."
He also learnt a few numbers and letters, like 10 - can recognize "10" on a block and say "ten" unprompted. I think he remembers 8, 9, 10 better than 1, 2, 3 - maybe because they come at the end of the count?
Other new things this month: raging vehicle maniac mode. Will watch 10-minute videos on, say, how the hydraulic piston system is installed in an excavator (this sort of thing evidently has quite a viewership base among the preschool set). I got him "Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site" and a 100 trucks picture book. Took the side off the crib, which Alan wasn't using at all, so now he will at least nap in it during the afternoon. While at his grandparents Alan learnt how to walk (not crawl) up and down the stairs by himself, holding onto the railing. He's started experimenting with sliding down the playground slide on his bum (previously only tummy, but it rucks up his shirt and now the plastic is cold, I guess). Good at catching a large ball at short distances, can also kick one around. Climbs more: I have my coffee pods on a shelf and he now steps up onto the shoe rack in order to get them in the morning, to "help" me make coffee. I'm not very worried about him climbing, because he's not a daredevil, and he's still a tall kid with not a lot of core strength. XD; Having experimented at the playground, I know he can't get high enough by himself to be a problem.
I got him a very cute yellow push bike, but his legs are too long to sit well and he completely rejected it. He was considerably more interested when it was disassembled, immediately figured out how the IKEA-style wrench worked, etc. Had a lot of fun the other day playing with yo-yo string and threading it through his other toys. Think I'll order some arts and crafts stuff, as we'll be stuck inside more.
Appetite is recently good, after having been poor for a lot of the summer. Eats apples and cherry tomatoes happily, will accept scrambled eggs if made to a hotel chef's standard. Still very into chasing squirrels and pigeons in the park. I've been introducing him to fall concepts, like coloured leaves and conkers (I gathered a whole bunch from a tochinoki tree in the Botanical Garden). No trick or treating, of course, and I'm sad at the missed opportunity to put Vulcan ears on him and take him to Comic-con - I suspect he'll default to it eventually anyway, given his eyebrows, but it really would have been maximal cuteness this year.
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Date: 2020-10-02 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-02 06:00 pm (UTC)