21 Months (and two days)

So this update is a little behind, but I have an excuse...a stomach bug got me this weekend.

And on to what my punkin pie is doing lately:

X-man had an ear appointment last week (it was the 3-month check up for his tubes) and his ears are doing great. The tube in his left ear has come out and it is in his ear canal, but too far in for the doc to remove it without scaring X-man. So, it's still in there...I'll probably find it on his bed some morning. Aside from me being happy that the ears are doing well, X-man actually sat still for them to do a hearing test! I'm not sure if it was the fact that I'd been sticking my fingers in his ears all morning or if he was just being a big boy (or a combination of that and probably other factors) but he sat there quiet and (mostly) still while I held the little monitor in his ear and he took the test (twice in his left ear). He passed in his right ear and passed most of the test in his left...but that's due to the tube being in the ear canal and making the sound waves bounce around funny.

Not that I was overly worried that X-man couldn't hear, but it was nice to hear the doctor say that his hearing was good. And I was so proud of him for being such a big boy!

His vocabulary is getting pretty good. I love to hear him say Car. It comes out "cah," heavy on the c and it sounds like he's from New England or something...leaving off the r! X-man and TC were in the living room while I was fixing dinner last night and TC said, "Mommy! X-man saw a bee on TV and said, 'bee'!" Of course, I asked if it was the Nasonex commercial...I don't even take that stuff and I knew! Good marketing, guys!

I even think I've gotten him to say his baby sister's name! He says, "Ay-ee"...that's X-man for Avery.

Even though he is doing a pretty good job at communicating, he does tend to get very frustrated when he can't tell us what he wants. Sometimes he'll just pull on our shirt or try to push us and he'll get really mad and upset when we don't do what we want. We ask him to calm down and show us what he wants, but usually by that point, he's so mad I think even he's forgotten what he wants!

He has started a cute little "sign" for when he's hungry or he wants to eat something we're eating. He'll open his mouth and put his little finger on his tongue. Too cute!

A few weeks ago, X-man and I were having breakfast and he started moving his arms up and down, opposite each other...like he was immitating climbing something. I wondered if maybe he was doing the motions to some song he learned at church. Hmmm...what song has climbing motions? The first song that came to my mind was "Zacchaeus." So, I started singing and doing the hand motions that I knew. X-man was pretty fast on picking up on it and soon he would put his arm down, palm flat and parallel to the floor with the "wee little man" motion and want me to sing! It is just adorable when he does it!

His teeth are coming in fast and furious. He's got two molars on the bottom that have all points sticking out. Man, do they look huge! He's got two molars on top that have poked through, but I haven's seen those in a while to know how far out those are. And he's got a lateral incisor (that's the one just next to the two front teeth) on one side that's coming through. That one actually came without fever.

X-man is a great help around the house. He loves to push the laundry baskets where ever they need to be and he LOVES pulling clothes out of the dryer (of course, after he pulls them out, he puts them on the floor!). He still does a great job of picking up his toys before bath every night and he loves his bath! We've quit using the bath seat so I got a no-skid bath mat for inside the tub and that keeps him from sliding all over the place. He probably doesn't need it, but it makes me feel better...and we all know what they say if mamma ain't happy!

X-man is getting so big and amazes me all the time with what he can do and what he understands. I can't wait to see what next month brings!