23 Months

1)  Fuzzy demonstrated his ingenuity at the beginning of the month.  He wanted to turn the light in the basement on by himself, and I suggested he stand on a box to do it.  He cocked his head, having never considered this option before, and then went and dragged a plastic bin over to the light switch, climbed on, and flipped the light back and forth in ecstasy.  Then he was given his usual evening bottle of milk, which he promptly dropped in his excitement.  A little bit of milk spilled, and he noticed.

"Little spill? Clean up?"

Answering his own question, he got off the bin, pushed it over to the bookshelf, climbed up, pulled a single tissue from the kleenex box I hid from him up there, and then went to clean up the milk.  Because apparently this was a fun activity, he then proceeded to repeat it about 10 times, each time saying "One more!" as he got down a tissue.

2)  In a similar vein, he also drank from Daddy's bottle of juice - taking one sip at a time, screwing in the cap, then saying "Little more" and opening the cap again.  Repeat about 30 times - the fun part was that we were Skyping with the grandparents at the time, so they witnessed this for about 10 minutes.

3)  As chronicled in the last posting, Fuzzy has been helping Daddy fix things around the house recently.  Shortly before Sprout's arrival, we went shopping at Ikea, and got not only a dresser for the baby's room, but also a toy toolset for Fuzzy.  He very proudly wielded his own hammer, screwdriver, and wrench as he helped build the dresser, talking about being a "big bother" when the baby came.

4)  As I believe I've mentioned before, Fuzzy is particularly sensitive to loud, unexplained noises.  Hearing any type of bang, buzzing, whistling, bumping, etc., he will run to my leg, hug it tight in terror, and say "Noize?" Sometimes, this is followed up with a quivering "Thunda boom?" because he saw two separate episodes - one of Caillou, and one of Peppa Pig, where the kids are scared of thunder storms.  He himself has not yet experienced a storm, but we live in fear of the day.

Anyway, when we explain what the noize is, Fuzzy always calms down.  Often, the explanation is something along the lines of: just Daddy/Mama/Maya walking/washing dishes/etc. upstairs/downstairs.  Apparently this narrative has stuck, because the other day, Fuzzy ran to me - "Noize?" he said, and then followed it up with his own explanation: "Jus Daddy downsairs fixin stuff."

5)  Fuzzy has expanded his song repertoire.  When asked to sing a song a few weeks ago, he burst out with: "Twinkle lit sta...goon goon GAAAAAAAAA!" - apparently because he couldn't remember the rest of the lyrics.  Then, later in the month, I heard him at top volume, singing to himself at nap time - "TWINKLE TWINKLE LIT STA, HOW WONDA WHAT ARE."  Personally, I found the rendition less than soothing, but what the hell do I know.

6)  Fuzz is picking up random words here and there, and at this point, I have no idea where he gets any particular thing.  Case in point - during bath time a few days ago, he asked for the faucet to be turned on, and then requested his cup.  When he drank deep, I asked if the water was good.  "Deeeeelicious!" the baby replied.

7)  We've been trying to teach Fuzz to say 'please' and 'thank you' at appropriate moments.  Although he figured out 'peas' very fast, until a little while ago, he really had to be prompted every time for the thank you part.  The other day though, he asked for some toast at breakfast, and when I handed it to him, completely unprompted, he said "Fanks Mama."

8)  I've been writing these notes in more or less chronological order, so only at the end of the list are we getting to the most significant event of the month - Sprout's arrival.  Fuzzy's reaction to the birth of his baby brother is better than anything I could have imagined.  He first laid eyes on the baby when The Pit brought him for a visit to the hospital, and he grinned hugely, pointed to the bassinet, and yelled "Baby!!" excitedly.  When informed that the baby was named Sprout, he asked, "Fizz kiss baby Fpout?"

After he was afforded the opportunity, he kept asking to do it again.  When it was time to go, he cried bitter tears, and as The Pit carried him out of the room, I could hear the yelling down the hall "NO! NO! NO! FIZZ KISS BABY FPOUT MORE!"

9)  The day after I came home from the hospital, The Pit took Fuzzy on a walk so I could feed the baby in peace.  As they approached the house, I could hear Fuzzy excitedly yelling something.  When they opened the front door, this resolved into "MAMA! MAMA! Fizz bought Mama flowers!!"  And indeed, he had.  He clambered up the stairs, and then entered my room triumphantly, clutching two wilted and rather smushed dandelions in his little fist.  These he proudly presented to me, making Mama tear up just a tiny bit.

10)  Fuzzy has two comfort animals - they are essentially identical elephants, although he greatly prefers one to the other.  They do not have names, per se, but are instead referred to as "Any Baby" for the favorite, and "That Baby" for the other.  It is a measure of Fuzzy's devotion to his new sibling that, upon seeing the baby laying there sleeping, he grabbed an extra blanket, put it on top of Sprout, and then followed this up by placing Any Baby next to his head.

11)  A few days ago, Fuzzy saw a cartoon featuring a marching band.  Now he grabs his toy frying pan and spatula, starts banging them together, and marches around the room, repeating "Fizz MACHING!" over and over.  Usually our applause is not enough for him, and he demands that we too stand and march behind him.  Apparently he is already wise enough to know that adults cheat, because as he marches, every few seconds he will glance backward to make sure we are still with him.

12)  In a very recent development, Fuzzy will return from walks with shouts to whichever parent wasn't with him - "Mummy, mummy!! Fizz saw duck!!"  So far, I have been informed of the existence of ducks, flowers, bees, and ants.  It's super cute how excited he is to share.

13)  For whatever reason, Fuzzy has taken to calling me "Mummy" recently - not all the time, but his usual call of "Mama, Mama!" now goes something like: "Mama! Mama! Mummy! Mama!"

In other language developments, as noted by his pronunciation of Sprout, he now turns 's' into 'f' - although once again, not in any sort of consistent manner.  But sunglasses become fungasses, shoulders become folders, and upsidedown is upfidedon.  For our final picture, here is little bunny exhausted from too much playing outfide:

1 Week

Having a second child is a revelation in differences.

1)  To date, Little Sprout is a much more mellow baby, possibly because he does not insist on keeping all his precious burps inside.  Unlike his big brother, he readily belches and spits up when turned upright, and then happily goes back to sleep.

2)  The sleeping - oh my god, the sleeping.  I seem to remember Fuzzy being up constantly at this age, looking around, making a fuss, and insistently demanding to be fed and/or held.  Baby Sprout occasionally has intervals where he feeds every two hours, but for the most part, he goes about four before making his presence known.  In the intervals, he lays happily on his infant pillow and sleeps.  Even loud noises from his big brother, along with the occasional poke and/or kiss, fail to disturb him.

3)  On the downside, once he wakes up, he is a very slllloooowww eater.  He'll latch on for a few minutes, then pull off, and stare at the nipple in amazement for a bit.  Then he'll want to be burped.  Then he'll nap for a few minutes, and the cycle will repeat.  It can take over an hour for him to finally get full enough to really get back to serious napping.  This is all fine and dandy during the day, but can get rather frustrating at night, when all I want is to feed him, change him, and get back to sleep myself.

4)  And let us not forget the peeing.  By the time he was a week old, Fuzzy had persisted until he peed on every single member of the household.  Sprout has been much better behaved, always waiting until a diaper is back on to let loose.

He's Here!

Introducing the latest member of the Peachy family:  little Sprout, who, due to some genetic quirk I blame entirely on The Pit's side, appears just a tad bit Asian.

Here he is, as a happy Buddha:

And here, as a North Korean dictator:

22 Months

1)  For the first time, Fuzzy started referring to himself by name this month.  Except his real name has an 'r' in it, and he can't say that letter yet.  So he omits it, which is funnier in real life than on the blog.  But for illustrative purposes, let's say he calls himself Fizz instead of Fuzz.

2)  He's also expressed emotions for the first time - we have a book where the puppy is sad because he can't wag his tail, and Fuzzy points at his frowning face, and says "puppy fad...no tay wag."  Similarly, he can now also articulate that he, himself, is 'fad.'  He's been playing with the same stick in the basement for months now, and the other day he broke it.  Afterward, he came up to me making a sadface, and said "Fizz fad...tick boke."

3)  Fuzzy is also trying to find some semblance of agency in his adult-controlled world.  He doesn't like brushing his teeth, but he usually puts up with it when The Pit does it for him in the bath.  The other day however, he got himself all worked up about not brushing teeth, and when Daddy held him down and did it anyway, he composed himself long enough to imperiously point at the bathroom door, and say "Daddy bye-bye!"  Fortunately for The Pit's hurt feelings, this was a one-time occurrence.

4)  Although Fuzzy understands the word 'turn' and even applies it appropriately on the playground, he isn't so good at sharing at home.  When Mama or Daddy are using their phones for example, he always grabs them out of our hands, yelling "Fizz toyn!"  Somehow, it then never gets to be Mama's or Daddy's turn, ever again.  Similarly, when another person is touching the object he wants, Fizzy firmly says "Mine!" and grabs it away.  When he's feeling particularly possessive, he yells it louder and adds an 's,' thusly: "MINES!"

5)  Fuzzy's grandma came to spend a week with him while Maya was out of town, and one day after I got home from work, I asked him if he had a good day with grandma.  The baby considered the question for a bit, and then replied, "No...fine."  Ah, okay then, glad you realize the distinction.

6)  The Pit, while clipping Fuzzy into his carseat, somehow slipped and managed to punch himself in the ear.  At which point, quite justifiably, he let loose with a heartfelt "FUCK!"  Fuzzy looked up in worry at me, and said, "Daddy fuuuuuuckk!"  He then made a crying noise, presumably to indicate that Daddy hurt himself, and followed it up with a rather cheerful, "Mama fix!"

7)  When Fuzzy was a much smaller baby, and required constant rocking and singing to go to sleep, I made up a song to accompany the motion, which went like so:

"Baby Fuzz, baby Fuzz,
He's so tired and so sweet.
Baby Fuzz, baby Fuzz,
He just wants to go to sleep."

Now we go through exactly three songs prior to bedtime, and Fuzzy picks out which songs he wants.  A few weeks ago, he demanded a new song, and, searching my memory in desperation, I came up with a blank.  So I started singing the baby Fuzz song.  It instantly became the new favorite, and a few days ago, I heard him softly muttering "Baby Fuzz, babbbbby Fuzz" to his bathtub ducks as he flipped them over one by one - presumably putting them to sleep, rather than drowning them as it appeared.

In other singing news, he also made up a brand new song the other day when we asked him to sing.  He stared at us with wide eyes, and proceeded to yell at top volume: "Gooon gooon GAHHHH.  Goooon goooon GAHHHHHH!"  Not sure where that came from, but it was quite amusing nonetheless.  Apparently he's gotten his pitch from Mama though.  As I'm completely tone deaf, it would have been better if he inherited this trait from his father.

8)  In the last month, our house has required constant fixing of appliances large and small - we had both the microwave and dryer break, as well as assorted more minor objects.  Being the very handy sort, The Pit has tackled these challenges himself, and now, Fuzzy loves to help Daddy 'fix' things.  For a while, we got away with handing him things like paintbrushes when he demanded to help Daddy with tools.  However, now he looks at these objects with scorn, and demands a "weal tool."  The Pit, always cautious about safety, took away the screwdriver I handed him, and replaced it with the smallest wrench in his toolset.  Now Fuzzy wanders around the house with it, putting it against various surfaces and then joyfully announcing that he's fixed them.

9)  Somewhere along the way, Fuzzy picked up the concept of racing.  Or 'wacing,' as he calls it.  Now, when we go down to the basement to play, he pulls out a long string, sets it up as his starting line, and then crouches down, saying "Weady, set, go!  WACE!"  Then he proceeds to race across the room, plops himself down on the mattress we have set up in one corner, and raises his arms in victory.  The fact that he has no opponent does not seem to phase him in the slightest.

10)  As I said above, Fuzzy is beginning to exhibit more agency, now that he can communicate better.  One of his more used expressions this month has been:  "No like it, that X."  When he knows the name of the object in question, he says it.  For example, when asked if he wants to read a particular book, about half the time he will now say "No like it, that book." If he doesn't know what the thing is called, he will firmly exclaim, "No like it, that one!" while pointing to whatever it is.

21 Months

1)  As promised, I have discontinued the detailed list of Fuzzy's new words - but be assured there was a lot of language progress this month.  In addition to him randomly knowing words like "dragonfly" and "nurse" that we have never used in everyday conversation,  the baby has also started stringing together three or four-word sentences.  For example, looking at people at the bus stop on our street, he pointed and explained to me, "Bus wait in go!"

2)  At the beginning of the month, Fuzz started counting to two - everything of which there was two was quickly enumerated - eyes, socks, feet, hands, etc.  Then he added in three, which he pronounces as "fwee."  It did not phase him when there was only two of something to count - one duck, two duck...point at the the first one again...fwee duck!

By the middle of the month, after a week of religious drilling by his grandma, I saw him counting pinches of salt into a pot, going all the way up to seven accurately.  Alas, when grandma went home and we skipped on the rehearsals, Fuzzy quickly adopted a lazy man's counting approach, eliminating all those confusing and unnecessary middle numbers - "One, two, fwee...eight, nine, ten!"

3)  For as long as I can remember, Fuzzy has hated windup toys.  It's a puzzling dislike, since normally mechanical things fascinate him.  However, he screamed at a wind-up toy around 5 months, and though he can now articulate himself better, the basic feelings haven't changed.  We went over to the neighbors to watch a bit of the Super Bowl, and their daughters tried to show Fuzzy small wind-up butterflies, caterpillars, and ladybugs.  Fuzz took one look and ran into my lap for shelter, yelling "No bugs! No! No! No!" the whole way.

I should note that it's not specifically bugs that he dislikes - at the Natural History Museum, his favorite part is their live bug display.  However, his natural caution kicked in when he was offered the opportunity to pet a giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.  "Mama twy" he demanded the first time he saw them, grabbing my hand and using my finger to touch the bug first.  Once it was demonstrated as safe, he consented to pet it with his own precious appendage, giggling the whole way.

It may have helped that the real bugs were relatively silent - Fuzzy exceptionally dislikes loud noises, and when threatened with such, covers his ears and scuttles to me, yelling "No noize, no noize!"

4)  In an indication that we probably should have potty trained him months ago, Fuzzy now imitates us when we go to change his diaper.  The other day I laid him on the changing table, opened up the diaper, and before I could articulate my findings, the baby said "Oh god!"in a close approximation of my voice.

After several incidents of him pooping in the tub during bath time, we've taken to asking him if he needs to use the potty.  To this question, he's hit on a fool-proof response: "No poop! Jus pee!"  This is also the answer we get when we ask if he's pooped in his diaper...give-away smell notwithstanding. 

5)  One of Fuzzy's favorite books is a about a little panda that causes havoc when sneezing, and Fuzzy has gotten to the point where he can recite a large chunk of it from memory.  The best is that he gets a joke - there's a page where the panda goes "Ahhh....ahhh....ahhhh...no!" and doesn't sneeze.  Fuzz recites the line, and then giggles at the "No!" part before moving on.

6)  Fuzz has gotten pretty good at wheedling his way into whatever he wants.  He's picking up on the phrase "one more" while holding up a single finger.  So at bedtime, it's one more book, then one more song, and then one more, and one more, and one more.  It never ends, of course, so eventually Mama must put her foot down - but oh, it's hard to resist that cute little face and that cute little finger.

7)  In a less adorable development, at the end of the month, the child started throwing tantrums for the first time.  Typically, this involves him going as limp as possible so that I cannot pick him up, and then wailing while very carefully placing himself face-down on the floor.  Typically, a minute of ignoring and/or a distracting activity will solve the issue, and as The Pit observed, Fuzzy has yet to really commit to the tantrum.  I hope things stay this way, and Fuzzy's cautious nature prevents full-on flailing, as our hardwood floors are not the best surface for complete freak outs.

20 Months

1)  I think after this month, keeping a list of Fuzzy's new words will get unrealistic - he added so many in the last few weeks that I've only managed to write down a fraction.  Clearly he's still having trouble with 'r' and 'l,' but his pronunciation has improved significantly, and he's now occasionally using two words together to convey his thoughts.

nes = nest
cut = cut
coo coo coo = chicken
ah ooh ooh = monkey
ba = fish
na = cat
bubba = butterfly
noyze = noise
nissse = nice (as in petting something gently)
epee = zipper
hoyse = horse
dert = dirt
bump = bump
poop = poop
piece = piece
pop = pop (mostly in reference to balloons popping, a noyze he found shocking the first time he heard it)
poon = spoon
houf = house
umbo = rainbow or flamingo
toyrn = turn
tay = tail
wain = rain
wide = ride
weep = sleep or sweep, depending on context
woom = room
wight = light

2) This month we spent two weeks in California, visiting the family over Christmas/New Years.  Our home base was my mother's house, where Fuzzy developed an obsession with her cat.  Although fully capable of pronouncing cat - I got him to say it once - Fuzz decided that a better name for the creature was "Na."  For those who have not encountered him, I should clarify that Na is particularly unfriendly: Dina once perfectly captured his personality here.

Na's alternating disdain/fear/loathing of Fuzzy did not, however, discourage the baby.  If anything, his continual attempts at escape only made Fuzz more ardent in his affection, both for the cat, and the cat's tail, which he treated as a whole separate entity.  When the cat was captured and briefly held immobile for Fuzzy's benefit, Fuzz came over to the face area, said "HIIIIIII!!!!" and waved frantically.  Then he repeated this procedure, only now facing the wildly agitating tail.  Below is another encounter between Fuzz and the cat that my sister filmed:

Following this encounter, we would have long conversations about tails, and who does or does not have one.  "Na tay?" Fuzzy would ask, waving in the general direction of his backside for added explanation.  "Yes, the cat has a tail." I would respond.  Then Fuzzy would go down his list of people with Names - Bebe (himself), Mama, Dada, Noooom, Dindy, Baba, Anya, the unpronounceable thing he calls my dad, etc., asking if each had a tail.  On the plane ride home, he then started pointing at all of our fellow passengers, asking if each had a tail. 

3)  The other most memorable moment of our trip was the haircut Fuzz received from my mom.  It was just a light trim, but we did it in the bath with his full cooperation, explaining that hair cuts were a thing that periodically happened.  He was pretty good about sitting still for it, but the best part was that he remembered it every couple of days thereafter, and demonstrated this memory by grabbing at his hair and saying "Baba cut."  Now that several weeks have gone by, the remembering is less frequent, but he still points to scissors and says "cut," and sometimes, after going through who does and does not have a tail, then repeats the whole list to inquire about whether each person has experienced a haircut. 

4)  His pretend play has expanded somewhat - not only does he want to feed his toy horse, but he also wants Mama to pretend to be a horsie.  Whenever I unwisely get down on the ground at his level in the basement, he clamors up to my back, yelling "Mama hoyse, mama hoyse!" and sometimes "Neeeeeeeeeey!"

5)  It only took two months, but now Fuzzy manages to get a tiny little bit of air when he jumps.  In further progress from last month, he is also now able (and willing) to build much higher block towers.

6)  Showing new understanding of the whole diaper situation, Fuzz has taken to talking about "dert" when we go to change him, and also mentions being "keen" afterward.  Sadly, this has made no impact on his desire to use the potty - in fact, when we ask if he's pooped and needs his diaper changed, he resolutely lies, shaking his head 'no' and going to hide in the farthest corner of the room from us.  This despite all olfactory evidence to the contrary.

7)  However, this month does bring some progress on the counting, reading, and colors fronts: 

Counting:  Previously, the baby was obsessed with the way that "eight" and "nine" sounded.  Sometimes he would yell out just those two numbers, apropos of nothing.  Now, he seems to understand what "one" means, and can also say it.  He still follows it up with nine, but I'm not looking a gift hoyse in the mouth.

Reading:  In the last few months, I suspected that Fuzzy was recognizing the letter "A."  I'm still not certain about that one, but he for sure knows "O."  I've seen him point to it on multiple occasions, in his books, on public signage, and sometimes on the keyboard.  He has also taken to "reading" aloud when he encounters letters out in the world.  At the moment, his reading sounds something like "ay oo eeeee ooo ay i."  Apparently we are fans of vowels.

Colors:  Previous to this month, Fuzzy showed no interest in colors whatsoever.  The beginning of this month brought some improvement, as he started calling every color "gren."  For a while, our color conversations would go thusly:  Mama points to green object, asks what color it is.  Fuzzy says "gren" and Mama gets all excited.  Daddy then points to another object of any other color, and Fuzzy promply says "gren."  Mama is less thrilled.  However, by the end of the month, he could, more or less reliably, also identify purple and orange - or "purpo" and "oren," as the case may be.

8)  My belly has grown to the point that it's impossible to ignore, so we finally explained to Fuzzy that Mama is growing a baby in there.  When he sees me changing, he will occasionally point to my stomach and say "bebe," but has not connected things any more with his life.  As far as Fuzz is concerned, there are at least two more important babies in the world - himself, and his stuffed toy elephant (this is his little comfort toy - he sleeps with it, and sometimes goes through periods of dragging it around with him everywhere). 

9)  Unlike the baby concept, Fuzzy's understanding of people and their ownership of objects is improving significantly.  For example, for breakfast the other day I gave him a bowl of strawberries.  He picked one up, said "Mama," and gave it to me.  Then he picked up a second berry, said "Bebe," and ate it himself.  For his grand finale, he picked up a third berry, said "Dada," and pointed up to the ceiling, where we could hear The Pitt showering upstairs.  I applauded his generosity of spirit, but encouraged him to eat the rest of the bowl himself.

10)  This post is already getting way too long, but I would be remiss if I didn't document the kid's new-found love of stop signs.  Or 'top sighs,' as he calls them.  He likes to stand by them, and as cars approach, holds up his hand in a stop gesture, yelling 'TOPPP!" the whole time.  Then he relents, and tells them to "GOOOO!"  I'm sure the drivers appreciate his assistance.  Similarly, I'm sure our taxi driver on the way home from the airport was very thankful for these instructions, yelled at top volume from the backseat, whenever we got to a red light or green light. 

11)  Okay, one more thing, because it is adorable.  We got a huge snowstorm in the middle of the month, and afterward The Pit went outside to dig out our cars.  While he was doing this, I thought of some urgent question I had to ask him, and so I opened the window in the house and yelled his name.  The baby observed this with interest, and then for the rest of the day, copied my exact intonation and facial expression, screwing up his eyes, leaning his head back, and yelling "PIIIIIITTT" at the top of his lungs.  The Pit did not find this nearly as amusing as I did, so I suppose it's good for me that the kid got bored of it after a day.

19 Months

1) New words this month:
off = off (demonstrated when he saw me getting ready to leave for work: I put on my jacket, and he started tugging on it and saying "off")
onn = on
in = in
hi = hi
bye = bye
guy= guy
sky = sky
turtur = turtle
anka = hanukkah
cook = cook
keen = clean
et = eat
go = go
gone = gone
com = come
keewee= kiwi
orn = orange
top = stop (with accompanying hand gesture)
dus = bus
gas = eye glasses or grass, depending on context
tar = guitar or star, depending on context

2)  At the beginning of this month we hosted a bunch of relatives for Thanksgivingukkah.  The Pit's mom was here, as well as his sister, brother-in-law, and step-niece.  My sister and new brother-in-law also joined us, and the baby had a grand time playing with everyone for a week.  He only got down two names though - my brother-in-law first - referred to as Noooooom, and then my sister's new name - Dindy.  After everyone left, the baby would point to random people/cars moving past the house, and hopefully say "Nooooom? Dindy?" This went on for weeks, until we actually came to California for Christmas and he saw everyone again.

3)  This month brought a lot of pretend play.   He started feeding various toy animals his milk, with specific emphasis on his pony and his bee. He also received a set of play pots and pans from Noooom and Dindy for Hanukkah, and he immediately got the concept of pretending to cook.  He grabbed a spoon, started stirring, then brought the empty spoon to his mouth, squinted his eyes in pleasure, and said "Mmmmmm!"  Then he made the rest of us try his creation.

4)  Since Fuzz stays home with Maya all day, he hasn't had a lot of opportunities to practice toy sharing.  However, we had friends from out of town stop by for an evening, and they brought their 4-year old (I can't believe I made this kid a quilt four whole years ago) and 6-month old to play.  We stuck the baby in Fuzzy's old Bumbo while the rest of us sat around playing and talking.  When Fuzzy saw this impertinence, he immediately got jealous, and tried to sit in his Bumbo himself - right on top of the baby.  This does not bode well for the arrival of his baby brother.*

5)  Fuzzy is getting much better climbing - we have a large plastic storage container in the basement, and the other day Fuzzy wanted to climb up on it.  Except he had his milk bottle (with straw) in his hands.  You could see the indecision on his face, as he glanced back and forth between the milk and the box - then he decided he could have his cake and eat it too.  He stuck the straw in his teeth, clenched down, climbed on top of the box, and then leapt down at me while screaming with joy - all somehow without spilling a drop a milk.

6)  For the first time this month, Fuzz showed an interest in building block towers.  Previously, he would happily come over and knock over a tower you built, but would not really care to take a stab at making one himself.   Now he can occasionally be coaxed into stacking blocks one on top of the other, although of course, the knocking over remains his favorite part.

7)  Thinking to encourage Fuzzy's social development, I asked Maya to take him to story time at the library.  Apparently, Fuzzy wasn't too thrilled with their book selection though - halfway through the story, he decided to pre-empt things a bit.  He started clapping his hands and saying "don don don," apparently hoping that the reader would take up his cues.

*  Have I mentioned that we are expecting another baby?  This puts me rather in a quandary, as when I started the blog, I did not expect to require multiple peach-themed nicknames. Oh well, I have until late April to think of something.

18 Months

1) Lots of new words this month, but I think I have most of them listed here:
coo coo = hiding (the equivalent of peek-a-boo in Russian)
appa = apple (no longer buh buh!)
plumpbpb = plum
hooom = home
noon = moon
indy = window or windy, depending on context
issss = ice
gump = jump
dunce = dance
bebe = baby
don = down or done, depending on context
unda = under
in = in
up = up

2)  Fuzzy got the head shake for "no" down pat a long time ago, but previously had no equivalent affirmative gesture, despite The Pit's persistent attempts to teach him to nod.  When asking him a series of questions, we thus had to watch him like hawks until he stopped shaking his head, indicating that he did indeed want whatever item was being offered - either that, or he had stopped paying attention entirely.  This led to a lot of prematurely peeled bananas.  This month he finally got nodding down.  Except it isn't nodding exactly, it's one very emphatic nod.  That is all you get, and woe to you if you happen to miss it.

3)  Unlike last year, when we managed to put him into his costume no problem and then photograph extensively, this year Fuzzy chose not to cooperate on Halloween.  He acquiesced to the body portion of his lobster costume, but the head piece was a step too far.  He was, however, perfectly happy to laugh at me when I put his lobster head on in a futile attempt to convince him that this was a good idea.

4)  Last month Fuzzy conquered the up portion of stairs, and this month he learned the complementary down portion, at least when there's an appropriate handrail.  He grabs on and just - steps down.  Most of the time he doesn't even fall after.

5)  Fuzzy has a new love in his life - it is the moon, which he persistently refers to as the "noon."  He asks after the noon all day, and when it finally comes out in the evening and we can show it to him, he yells its name over and over again in excitment.  If we go for a twilight walk, he likes to always have it in sight, and gets upset if the noon is momentarily hidden by trees or clouds.  At this point, he wails "NOOOOOOOON???" in a heartbreaking and very loud voice.

6)  While not loved quite as much as the noon, he has also taken much more of an interest in his stuffed animals recently, and in particular to a little toy dog that his great-grandmother gave him months ago.  When switched on, this beast walks in circles and alternates very annoying barking with very annoying whining noises.  When we first got it about 6 or 8 months ago, Fuzzy was actually quite scared of it, and thus it has been relegated to the back of the toy bin.  The other day Fuzz pulled it out, indicated that he wanted it on, and then rapturously followed it around the room, smacking it's back (where the walking button lives) every time the thing paused.  I am not nearly as in love with this thing as he is, but it is quite adorable to watch him hug it to his chest.

7)  Fuzzy has always liked dancing, and in particular dancing with mama.  As previously described, this involves me setting him on my hip, grabbing one of his hands in a ballroom pose, and spinning across the room.  Sadly, between mama's growing belly and Fuzzy's ever increasing weight, it's getting harder and harder for mama to keep this up.  Being a baby, Fuzz does not care for my excuses, and this month he really increased his demands - not only did he want constant music and dancing during the day, but when I was rocking him back to sleep after a nightmare, he turned to me with his eyes closed, clearly talking in his sleep. "Dunce," he commanded, "Mama, dunce."    

8)  After figuring out how to say the word "under," Fuzz has been obsessed with a new game.  He demands that mama and daddy both get down on all fours, crouch next to each other, and thus form a human fort.  Then he crawls under us yelling "UNDA!!" repeatedly.   When he gets bored with this, he wants to play "coo coo" - this involves us throwing a blanket over him, and saying "Where's Fuzzy?" over and over again until he manages to get his head clear.  Then he yells "Coo Coo!"and we have to say "Oh! There he is!".

9)  Fuzzy really likes the concept of jumping.  He makes his toy grasshopper jump in the bath, and accentuates this with his new word: "gump!"  Apparently the grasshopper really likes to gump on mama's head for some reason.   Fuzz has also been experimenting with gumping himself.  He stands up straight, then bends his legs, throws his arms back, and says "Gump!" excitedly.  Unfortunately, there's a key component missing - he never actually lifts off the ground.  His form is perfect, but he just straightens up after the leg bending and applauds himself without ever achieving any air whatsoever.  Maybe next month...

17 Months

This month's major milestone was a haircut given by Mama.  Clearly Mama needs more practice in order not to make her child look like a character in Dumb and Dumber.

1)  New words this month:
ka = crab or cloud, depending on context
na = nuts
na na = tomato (previously this referred exclusively to bananas, but now it can - confusingly - be either)
nananana = running
oh oh = exactly what it sounds like - he says this whenever something is wrong, from a giant spill to his slipper coming off
 
2)  As I mentioned in my last post, Fuzzy has a highly idiosyncratic way of saying apple - he pronounces it as "buh buh."  This was driving The Pit crazy, and he kept trying to explain to the baby that you say it thusly: "aaaah puuuulll."  Fuzzy listened intently to this explanation, and then when The Pit asked him to repeat, he said "Aaaaah..." and The Pit said "Now pullllll!" and Fuzzy grabbed at The Pit's shirt and pulled for all he was worth.

3)  Fuzz has recently expanded his love of running around in circles to a new game: he holds his arms out and spins round and round until he gets dizzy.  Then he staggers about with a grin on his face until the inevitable crash into either the floor or another immovable object.  Then the grin disappears and he looks at us with a wounded expression, hitting himself in the head to indicate that he went boom.

4)  Fuzzy has really figured out hand holding too - not so much as a sign of affection, but more as an effective technique to lead me places.  He will come over, grab my hand, and drag me to whatever object he wishes to be examined, lifted up, or otherwise engaged.  When my hands are held too high for him to reach, he makes do with a pant leg.  Once, when I was down on the ground with him, he grabbed me by the necklace and started dragging me along like an animal.  When I told him Mama wasn't a doggy, he merely laughed with delight and pulled harder.

5)  The baby demonstrated his reasoning skills when we went out to eat the other day - it was at a Mexican restaurant, where Fuzzy loves the tortilla chips, which he calls cackers.  When he saw the basket placed on our table, he yelled "cacker" over and over until he was handed a chip.  However, after trying one or two, he started playing with them - or so I thought.  First he demanded a drink from my water glass, and then, when I obligingly brought the water close to him, he quickly pushed his hand in the water, chip and all.  I started scolding him for playing with my water, telling him it wasn't there to drop in chips - but then The Pit stopped my lecture by pointing out that the baby was actually not releasing his chip in the water at all.  Apparently, he was softening it.  After a couple of seconds, he pulled it out and happily ate the thing.  How he learned to do that is beyond me - I don't think anyone has actually previously shown him that water softens hard food.

6)  Fuzzy's balancing has really improved this month too, to the point that he can now go up stairs like a real person - he grabs the handrail, and walks up natural as you please.  Watching him do this makes him seem like such a big boy - until you see the lurching disaster that is walking down those same steps.

16 Months

This month was chock-full of new and cool Fuzzy developments.

1) Several new words this month, with a couple of them doing double duty:
buh = book or ball, depending on context
buh buh = apple
bellalala = umbrella
blablabbala = granola, watermelon, or any other word with lots of L's
ahmmm = arm (said exactly like an elderly Bostonian)
ower = flower, or sometimes shower, depending on context
cunga = corn or acorn

2)  In addition to his new words, Fuzzy came up with several new games.  His very favorite currently involves running around and around an object.  The object in question isn't that important - I've seen him circle me, a chair, our bed, and the coffee table with seemingly equal enjoyment.   This enjoyment is conveyed by laughter, an occasional shriek, and a huge grin when he catches you watching him.  Another new game is grabbing something on a string - again, the actual object isn't that important, and then dragging said object all over the house.  I've seen him do this with several toys specifically designed for it, but also with a heavy paper bag we use to store a lot of his stuffed animals and various trinkets - the bag has thick string handles, and Fuzzy pulled and pulled on one of them until he managed to get the whole thing clear across the family room, dining room, and living room.

3)  In the mornings, Fuzzy often plays with a set of four plastic balls we keep in our room.  He gets great joy out of throwing them all over the place, hearing them bounce on the hardwood floors, and watching them roll around.  Sadly, the balls have a tendency to end up under the bed.  Fuzz knows this, and in the past, he's whined until one of us got the ball out.  However, one day this month, I watched him kick a ball under the bed, get down on his knees to look at it, and then whine for me to get it.  Unfortunately, he had kicked it right to the middle of the bed, where I couldn't actually reach it.  I told him this, and then watched as he seemingly lost interest in the ball and wandered over to my closet, where he started tugging on a hanger and whining when he couldn't get it down.

I thought he just wanted something new to play with, so I gave him the hanger.  He went over to one of the balls not currently under the bed, glanced up to make sure I was watching him, and then hit the ball with the hanger.  Then he handed the hanger to me, got down by the bed, and pointed at the stuck ball.  Lo and behold, I could in fact reach the ball with the hanger.  The Pit didn't believe me when I described this feat of reasoning - so a few days later, I saw the scenario play out again, this time with The Pit in the room, and the ball much closer, under a dresser.  When Fuzz went over to the closet, The Pit said, "I think he just wants something new to play with."  I was greatly vindicated when the baby pulled out a hanger, wandered over to the dresser, and started to waving the hanger underneath until he got the ball out himself.

4)  Speaking of The Pit, he is once again on Fuzzy's favorite list.  As astute readers may recall, in his first few months the baby adored daddy, and was relatively indifferent to mom.  Then things switched, and for months and months I was the only one able to calm him down when he was crying, put him to sleep, or give him a bath.  Now The Pit is resurgent, with Fuzzy calling for him when he's in a different room, crying when he leaves in the morning, and generally wanting to be picked up and held by daddy.  I find this a great relief, as having a baby attached to your hip 24/7 is not the easiest way to go about your day.

5)  However, there are still several activities reserved for just Fuzzy and mama.  One of these is reading in bed in the mornings.   When we have time on weekdays, but usually on weekends, I'll get the baby up, and while dad is in the shower, we will lay together on my pillow, with me holding a book above our heads and reading.  Fuzz will lay still and pay attention to some relatively long books this way, and his current most demanded story is about Elmo.  Elmo is definitely Fuzzy's favorite character - possibly because he can say the name with at least some clarity - when Fuzzy wants to read about Elmo, he yells "EHMO!!"over and over until the book is presented to him.

6)  In other signs that the baby is growing up, he now only wants to feed himself.  This is a bit of a disaster, because many of the foods he likes do not lend themselves well to fingers, and we are only now starting to get the rudiments of spoons.  For example, the other day I watched him assiduously try to pick up some peas with his spoon - only to be thwarted over and over because he was a) holding the spoon in a death-grip with his fist, leaving it completely unmaneuverable, and b) holding the spoon scoop-side down.

7)  Fuzzy has also developed a new laugh - expect it's not so much a laugh as a snicker, and it sounds remarkably like he is mocking us when he deploys it.  In combination with the fact that he now finds pinching people hilarious, the overall impression he gives off is remarkably similar to a tiny, pint-sized school bully.  Pinch - shriek from victim - "heh heh heh."

8) In a more adorable development, he now uses the sign for "more" to indicate not just food, but whatever else he wants - I was doing patygoosingkey, and when I stopped, he signed "more" repeatedly until I gave him more.  Similarly, he was freaking out in the tub for some unknown reason, and I started singing "Wheels on the Bus" to get him to calm down.  A couple of verses later, he had stopped crying and was listening raptly.  I finished, and he signed for "more" until The Pit made up some new parts of the song.

9)  Finally, Fuzz has grown two new teeth - oddly, not the ones adjacent to his previous front six, but instead two lower molars.  Or at least I think they are molars - they are pretty far back, and he won't really let me investigate for too long before he starts to bite.  You can sort of see one in the picture below.