17 Months!

I have been remiss in my journaling of Oscar’s development, so now that he is 17 months old (how did that happen???), I thought I’d catch up.  Oscar is still 31″ tall and weighs a solid 24 pounds.  I have a chronic backache from lugging the little monster around, as he is refusing to stand on his own for large chunks of the day.  Nanny Norma has taken to carrying him in the backpack, which seems like a very smart idea.

He’s becoming very affectionate.  He likes to give kisses – to me, to the dogs, to other kids he meets, to inanimate objects he stumbles upon and to photos.  He’s still not talking, but the babbling has picked up significantly.  He repeatedly says “dat-do” which sounds a lot like “thank you” and “bizzy biddy bizzy.”   We’re still working on signs, but the ones he consistently uses are banana, milk, bird and cracker.  He’s using those less than he uses his newfound pointing skills coupled with grunts.  It’s surprisingly effective.

He, for the first time, demanded a toy in Target.  The object of his desire?  A little car with Elmo on it, but he actually pointed and grunted repeatedly until I gave it to him (and didn’t even notice when I set it aside when we checked out – yay). He’s become near impossible to take to restaurants, climbs on the table and tries to rid it of every object.  I’ll keep trying, though.

He’s starting to like other kids, although he’s still pretty shy.  We’re starting music classes and a new playgroup next month.  Hopefully they’ll keep us improving on the socialization front. Kids Club at the gym has been horrific, although we’re headed there shortly to give it another go.

Oscar’s still a pretty good eater – he’s an even better cleaner.  He can clear his tray within seconds of the food hitting it.  Unfortunately, the food is either going into the dogs’ mouths or onto the floor for the dogs to pick up there.  His favorite foods include peppers, onions, chicken, clementines (he might actually like playing with these more than eating them, but they’re my favorite, so I keep trying), yogurt, bananas (especially fried), sweet potatoes, spinach, scrambled eggs, broccoli, M&Ms, chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon bread.

He’s extremely active.  He’s mastering running backwards right now and is looking like he might become a rock climber.  He even climbed out of his crib.  Not good.  He starts his day at 6:00 am and makes a steady progression through each and every room of the house all day long.  Norma can get him to nap for about half an hour a day (I can get him down for 1-2 hours on the weekend if I selflessly nap with him).  He loves to take baths – I’m betting this is because of his obsession with splashing.  You’ve seen the photos.  He’s crazy about it.  He also loves reading, especially his “Doggies” book.  He can mimic the howling in it so well that when the Early Start social worker came over for the intake evaluation she mistook him for the dogs.  Nice.

He’s becoming more and more aware of himself.  We made DVDs and a book of his photos this year for gifts for the grandparents, and he loved watching all the pictures of himself.  Very cute.  It’s just amazing to me to see how far he’s come.  Not just physically, although that transformation has been simply phenomenal.  Doing these books has brought home how much his personality has changed.  From the little guy who screamed nonstop for 10 days, refused to even break a smile for over three weeks and was so tense that for over a month he refused to straighten his legs, he’s an entirely different little boy.  In the mornings he’ll play in bed, babbling away and almost cooing (something I certainly never experienced when I first got him), and when I give him a bottle, he’s taken to actually touching my face and looking at me.  I know that these things sound like nothing to most of you (and they should, since most of you experienced it very soon after becoming parents), but it’s been a long time coming on this end. And I’m going to enjoy it for as long as I can.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

December 26, 2008 - Posted by Oscar and Etta's mom | Oscar