17 Months, 3 Weeks

Baby CP said that this is his "ban", which is short for "hua ban" which means skateboard.  He has also been quite obsessed with pretending that a small pot with a handle is a guitar. It took me a while to figure out what he was doing when he was saying "jin jin jang!" over and over again while moving his hand over the handle.  I guess he's got a good imagination. 

Last night's conversation:
Baby CP: Ma ma!
Me:  Dui, wo shi ni de mama.  Ni shi shei? ("Yes, that's right, I'm your mom.  Who are you?")
Baby CP:  Dong Dong.

I think that's the first time he really understood that he was referring to himself.

18 Months, 2 Weeks

Most of you know that up until recently Baby CP uses one syllable words even if word should have two syllables, but since we hang out with him so much, we know what he's trying to say.  My guess is he knows more than 70-100 words.  Last month, he started to say "bao bao wo" (pick me up), though I don't think he really understood the "wo" part of the command.  A week ago, he connected "choo choo train" and "qian qian shou" (let's hold hands).  Last night, we saw a true intent to connect words, starting with "more more li" and "more more chex" (more pears and more chex), "run run jump" ( a fun phrase from swim class), and a 3 syllable command (!) "wo  yao gan" (I want raisins).

Baby CP decided to self-wean from the bottle.  I was dreading going through the process since Baby CP used to come running to grab his bottle of milk before bedtime.  Last week, he would take the bottle but started acting weird - he'd take a couple sips and then try to dump it out.  There was something about his facial expression that made me realize that he just didn't want the bottle anymore.  It was too slow and he preferred to drink from a cup.  Baby CP drinks less than 8 oz of milk a day now and eats normal food.

He has gotten better about eating things though he does still spit stuff out from time to time, especially if he isn't that hungry.  He usually doesn't like mixed food and prefers that each food be separate.  He likes to eat meat and veggies.  He loves raisins, grape, clementines and rice chex with milk.  We don't give him sweet things to drink, but if he sees a cup with something colored in it, you can bet he'll come clamoring and demanding some.

One other development is that Baby CP knows when something on tv is scary.  We were watching Frosty the Snowman and when the abominable snowman (who has big teeth) appeared, Baby CP demanded that I "guan" (turn off) the television.  I guess that means that he knows these things are only on tv and that simply turning it off gets rid of them, though he might have nightmares.

Finally, Baby CP is getting a little better at brushing his own teeth and lets me get in a few brushes at the end.  We're still not brushing as thoroughly as I'd like, but it's better than nothing.