He still loves sweeping – inside and outside and and often demands the big broom when we are at home (he knows it lives in the shed and while he never gets it, he won’t give up.  Gotta love persistence!)

Z loves helping w/ the laundry & trash & putting away dishes.  He’ll help load the washer or dryer and also take the clothes out and transfer them to the laundry basket or dryer.  He loves taking out the trash and if you take it out without him, you will hear about it!

He’s got a new habit of putting his hand in pockets which is very cute and makes him look older (at least to me :).

Pouring seems to be the big skill he’s working on. He loves to pour food & objects from 1 container to next.  Above he’s pouring sand school and then rice in our kitchen, and of course he loves pouring water in the bathtub.  (need to add rice video from 2/10)

At school, he has mastered climbing up & down stairs which is a big relief (there are only 5 so not too far to fall but still a bit scary when he does, and he has :( )

SPL taught him a new game: “Boo” (February 9).  Z will say “Boo!” to Z and then S will act like he’s scared.  ZBL laughs and laughs and laughs.  

We finally got some rain too so Z has gotten to wear his boots and stomp in puddles.  He *loves* it!  And since we haven’t had much rain, he hasn’t had much experience and yet he knew exactly what to do.  It was fun to watch him experience stomping and splashing and exploring.

Life = charades these days.  ZBL’s language is still emerging but thankfully he acts out a bunch of things he wants (in a good way) and he is *so* pleased when one of us finally gets it.  The smile of appreciation comes across his face when he realizes he’s understood.  SPL is probably the best at interpretation :).

I taught him “I want” in sign language and he points to his actual eye instead of his chest to indicate I.  Very clever, I thought :).  He also has started saying something close to “wǒ yào” (I want) in mandarin.

The canines have finally arrived!  And there was great rejoicing as our sleep patterns are returning to a liveable state :).  No more screaming at 12 midnight or 2 am.  No more waking up for the day @ 4:30 am.  At least until the next disequilibrium strikes :).

Blowing his nose – he has this funny habit of every time he sees a toilet paper roll, he has to pretend to blow his nows

Z seems to be happier these days too.  Maybe it’s the sleep?  Maybe it’s just that he’s developmentally in a good place.  Either way, it makes life a lot more fun :).

Independence:  Z is very independent and wants to do as many things as he can by himself.  This month, he insisted on cracking his hard boiled eggs by himself.  A couple of times I turned my back on him only to find him crunching on a piece of egg shell.  Gotta get his calcium somehow!

Lining up cars (like his cousin Andrew used to :) – I laughed as he did this (SPL didn’t).  And I actually texted a photo to Andrew just for fun.  He was pleased that someone is following in his (gigantic) footsteps :).

Food – Vinaigrette seems to be the sauce of choice for Z (for SPL, it is soy sauce).  He loves the Brianna’s blush wine vinaigrette (as does his mom) and will dip anything into it including chicken, eggs, & red bell pepper.  He also has started liking pepper in his eggs and of course, he has to shake the pepper himself.

Favorite books: Wiggly worm & mistress mouse books

ZBL really loves being outside and we have made more of an effort to get to the local parks, take walks around the neighborhood, and play in the backyard.  Thankfully Northern CA weather is awesome through the winter.

ZBL continues to really like music and this month he started singing Twinkle twinkle to himself using “neh neh neh neh” sound or “ba” or “ma” syllables.

I think he had some other words this month too, but the only one I wrote down was Z said “walk” while I was holding him & leaving PSF :-)

I was just reflecting back on SPL’s life between 16-20 months: what was  difficult about these 4 months, was SPL perpetually had a goose egg on his forehead due to his falling down (lack of upper body strength paired with large head).  For Z, he has falllen but no goose eggs/better upper body strength.  What has been difficult is separation anxiety & severe sleep disruption.

On to month 21!