16 months / 64 months snapshot

X walked nearly all the way to school yesterday, pushing the stroller the entire third of a mile, including all the way up the big hill. He was furious when I picked him up and tried to put him in the stroller, and indignant as I carried him across the busy street. He fell about five times and raised his palms up to me so I could brush off the dirt and leaves, and then kept going. Today I tried going stroller-less and ended up carrying him the whole way. Whenever I put him down to walk, he plopped down on the sidewalk and picked up sticks, alternately handing them to me and K and eating them.

K scraped his knee a week ago and gives me a scab update every day. He's a bit of a drama queen when it comes to cuts and scrapes.

K still has rock star aspirations. He likes any kind of music with electric guitar. At the moment he's into the Pixies. Once in a while when he's in a good mood, he'll play air guitar and belt out a song that is composed of half nonsense words and half original lyrics that are actually pretty good.

X is saying "hi" and "bye-bye" but doesn't have any real words yet. He says "Uh-oh!" when anything falls on the floor and a dog-like "WUH WUH" for any kind of animal sound. (What does a dog say? WUH WUH. What does a cow say? WUH WUH. What does a fish say? WUH WUH. Et cetera.)

K still can't say his "r"s.

K rolls his eyes a lot. I can pretty much guarantee that around bedtime, he's going to say, "Not yet!" at least twice and roll his eyes at least three times. I get him to brush his teeth for a sufficient amount of time by telling him that he has to brush for eleven eye-rolls. He also says "Hello" as in "I already went to the potty, HELLO."

X loves taking baths, as he always has. He still takes baths in the baby tub.

For a glorious three weeks, K started taking showers! First day: "I love this! Can I take a shower every day?" It was great for me. Showers are quicker and he could do everything by himself. I'd hand him the soap, draw the curtain, and listen to him singing and dancing around in there while I read my magazine. Now he's back to baths.

K still wears a diaper at night.

X is transitioning to one nap.

K claims that he never sleeps.

Over the past few months, K's obsessions have been, in this order: Transformers; Bakugan (after buying two of those little ball things at a yard sale); Lego Ninjago (which he doesn't have, but has seen at a friend's house); and currently, the Avengers. Our main source of conflict is that he's always trying to get me to play games involving bad guy battles, and I don't want to play. K has also gone on a drawing and coloring binge lately. Given his total lack of interest before, this surprises me. But it is wonderful to have him immersed in a calm and quiet activity that he doesn't need me to be actively involved in.

X throws food. Like pretty much every baby his age.

X continues to be somewhat violent. We all flinch a little when he runs up to us. He pinches K. Two days in a row, he bit other kids in his class. :( We are trying to train him out of this, but I don't know how well it's working.

X gives kisses by opening his mouth as wide as possible, making a roaring noise, and mashing his face into your cheek. It is a wet and slimy, but sweet, experience.

K was apprehensive about kindergarten, but now that we've been there twice for his screening and orientation, he seems mostly excited about it. I think I'm more excited than he is, though. Two of his school friends are going to the same school, but they'll all be in different classes.

K is constantly making up stories about robots. When we walk anywhere, I hear a constant stream of chatter from him: "The black guy is the most powerful. He has a gun mounted right into his shoulder, and it shoots ice. The pink guy is the coolest. His name is Iron Zoomer. He can make lightning. One time, he went into a cave, and then, and then the leader of the skulletons, do you know what his name was? Uh... Robert. Robert said, "GET OUT OF MY CAVE!" and Iron Zoomer SHOCKED him with electricity and then the rest of the skulletons RAN AWAY." He always says he saw it all in a movie, even though he is terrified of watching actual movies of any kind.

X looks delighted and claps whenever a song is over, whether it's on the radio or someone is singing. He also claps if anyone says, "Yay!" or "Good job!" even if it's not directed at him. He dances whenever he hears music, shifting from side to side and grinning.

X climbs up and down the stairs. He has always refused to go down the stairs backwards or scoot down on his bottom like a normal baby. He hangs on to the railing and walks down. I don't think K could do that until he was two. At the playground, X has no fear. He climbs on everything.

According to JW, X actually jumped and got off the ground once a few days ago. I haven't seen him do it. But he does like to practice jumping.

K never wants to wear underpants, jackets, or shoes.

K is an amazing reader and can read just about anything. If he comes to an unfamiliar word, he usually doesn't ask what it means, he just says whatever he thinks it is and keeps going. The exception is words on the cereal box. We spend a lot of time at breakfast discussing the words on the cereal box.

X loves to read, too. He will hand me book after book and then, no matter what position I'm in, will find a way to climb on top of me while I read to him. He can sit there for half an hour reading. But I have to limit him to board books that don't have any rippable pieces. He destroyed Pat the Puppy the other day.

K is a good big brother. He's nice to X and will try to help if he sees him struggling with something. He gets understandably frustrated when X gets in his face and tries to take whatever K is playing with.

X, of course, wants to do whatever K is doing. If K is coloring, he will grab the crayons and color too. But after a minute he'll stop coloring and will bite off the pointy part off the crayon. Then he'll come find me and open his mouth so I can scrape the wax off his teeth.

X thinks sneezing is funny. He likes it when I say, "Bless you!" After he sneezes, he'll always do a couple of fake sneezes to get me to say "Bless you!" again.