Impressive Comprehension – 16months & 1week old

Our little men still aren’t talking much, but they sure do understand so much of what is said around them. We have to be careful of what we say. We’ve even started spelling words!

They are still learning body parts. They can now point to:

• eyes
• nose
• mouth
• teeth
• ears
• hair
• belly
• chest (but mostly they aim a little low and get their belly again!)
• hands
• fingers
• legs
• feet
• toes
• willy (penis)

We are trying to teach knees, arms and shoulders at the moment.

They have a book where “baby elmo” does various actions, and when we read it they try to follow the actions. They can copy baby elmo:

• stand up tall
• reach up high
• touch your nose
• touch your toes
• play peek-a-boo
• wave bye bye
• turn around
• sit down
• say ‘ma ma ma’
• say ‘da da da’
• sing ‘la la la’
• laugh ‘ha ha ha’

They also understand other simple commands/questions:

• can point to, or go and get almost any familiar object you ask them to, then they can take it where you ask them to. – this is most helpful when you’re changing a poopy bum and the nappy rash cream/ clean nappy/wipes etc are a few meters away. My little helper (who initially moved it away) can bring it back to me now! They are also good at putting their dirty clothes in the dirty clothes basket. We have yet to teach them to put their toys and books away!
• stand up
• sit down
• lie down
• spin around
• dance
• walk backwards
• ride your bike
• go down backwards (steps etc)
• take your dummy out
• put your dummy in your mouth
• put your dummy in the box (little container to store dummies next to their cots)
• ta for mummy (and they will usually give you what ever they have in their hand. Rarely they consider it too good to give up, in which case they will shake their head)
• shut the door/drawer (only works sometimes, but they understand what i mean, they just choose to ignore me!)
• are you hungry?
• Would you like some……… (name various foods and they will shake or nod their heads – sometimes)
• would you like some water?
• would you like some milk?
• where’s …….(mummy, mumma, ethan, ben, your brother, grandma, nana, kitty, melissa(cat), zazy(cat)…… etc)
• let go into the ………….. (kitchen, bedroom, living room, outside etc)
• would you like to read a book?
• go and choose a book you’d like to read

They are also starting to learn about their clothes. They know:

• pants
• singlet
• socks
• shoes
• nappy
• hat
• sleep suit

They are still learning shirt and haven’t started wearing shorts yet this season.

Amazingly, with all this comprehension, they have yet to listen to me when i tell them to get out of the cupboards, draws, cat food, store room, bathroom, nappy box etc!!!!! They truly are curious little toddlers who have an incessant need to explore, manipulate and learn about EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

I know it’s normal, i know it’s healthy, but after 12 hours of two toddlers getting into everything……. it’s FRUSTRATING and I love bedtime!!!

They are still sitting at the table eating their meals like big boys. Ethan, who’s always been the better eater, is getting very very good at eating all his dinner on a plate with fork. Benjamin prefers to squash his vegetables with the handle end of the fork, but will eat them if you hold his hand and the fork and help him. They both want to have the opportunity to try and feed them self from a bowl with a spoon (yoghurt or cereal etc), but we haven’t had the guts to let them have free reign at that one yet. Soon i suppose! I’m not looking forward to the mess! They haven’t quite got the idea of holding the bowl still with one hand, while the other uses the spoon. Last time we tried, they basically stabbed the yoghurt with the spoon until the bowl almost fell off the table.

Their allergies and diet restrictions are going quite well. We have slowly been introducing more foods. At the 12 month appointment we were given about 6-8 “challenges” to do, which tested certain additives. They have had a few very mild reactions, but nothing bad at all. I think we only have dried fruit and food colourings to go. We should do them soon, but it’s hard to find the right time. We must choose a 3 day period when Ben’s skin has been good, and his diet as been good, and try to keep it that way so we can test properly. Life seems to get in the way! For example, we were going to do it last week, but we had a BBQ chicken, chips and salad for lunch (from a chicken shop). We gave the boys some chicken, chips (fries) that had chicken salt on them and some of the salad (cucumber, fetta and olives) They had not had chicken salt, fetta or olives before, so we didn’t want to do a food challenge near that day in case they were reacting to the other new food. Today we went to the shops, and Sal had a fruit salad with yoghurt and muesli on top. Of course the boys wanted some, so they had some. These are all foods they are allowed to eat, but as it’s food from a food court and we can’t read the ingredients label, and we don't know for sure that the chopping board that they used to cut the fruit salad was clean, and didn’t have any allergy products on it – we take a small risk. The boys were fine with the fruit salad, it is a risk we’re willing to take occasionally, and I don't want to deprive them, but it makes it hard to fit in these challenges to make sure the results are accurate. Life just gets in the way!

Ethan seems to have had a growth spurt recently. He looks bigger. I’m sure he’s about 2-3cm (an inch) taller than Ben now. He feels heavier too. Ben is still a little skinny light weight. He feels very light when you pick him up compared to Ethan.  We haven’t had them weighed and measured lately, I’d actually be curious to know what they weigh. I think Ben is a little skinny, but I don’t know how to fatten him up. He eats and drinks less than Ethan. I don’t think you can force a toddler to eat more. Can you?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, what else? There are so many things our little toddlers are learning and doing every day. I may complain about the toddler insanities, but I really am enjoying this age. Last week they discovered that the front tap was dripping. Such a simple thing that an adult wouldn’t think twice about provided so much enjoyment. They spent ages feeling the water drip on their hands, laughing, squealing in delight and running around the garden. It brings a smile to my face to watch them play, learn and just be happy.

I’m sure there are many more things that B&E are doing at the moment but that’ll have to be another entry….