I love seeing Jake at daycare with all of his friends. I try to sneak in so that I can see how he interacts with the other kids but usually he spots me as soon as I walk in, gives me a big smile, a delightful squeal and runs over to me with arms outstretched for a lovely hug. He is extremely affectionate these days.
Here are the things that we find interesting about Jake at 21 months:
- Like I said, very affectionate. When I ask him for kisses, he gives me multiple kisses with open month so I get the full slobbering effect.
- Loves to sing and dance even without music. The daycare staff report that he spontaneously breaks out into song and dance and sometimes they can't figure out what song he is thinking of.
- He likes to tidy up. If he spills food on the floor, he picks it up and throws it in the trash - often without prompting.
- He is good at telling us what he wants-in his own way. For milk, he says muh. For the wiggles dvd he says gaba gawee or gabi. If he is sleepy, he asks for his pacifier which he calls mee mee and he says night night. Sometimes he goes to our bed and leans his head against the mattress waiting for us to pick him up and put him in.
- He started making animal sounds - his favorites are quack quack and roar (with claw hands) and ooh ooh ah ah (monkey).
- He started to count numbers. For the longest time he was only saying two numbers - 2 and 5. If we said 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 - he would say 2, 2, 5 back to us. Lately, the daycare are helping him add more numbers to his vocabulary.
- He started saying letters - he is good at A, B, C, D and E. He sometimes gets F, G, H, I, J.
- He loves airplanes. Our house is near a flight path and he looks up and points at the planes flying above. Sometimes he says bye bye to them. He also likes cars and trucks. He is such a boy, right? He also likes sports - we have been watching hockey lately as the Chicago Blackhawks are competing in the Stanley cup finals.
- He loves to clap and cheer - this is probably why he enjoys sports! One day the daycare staff told me he was clapping and cheering for his friends when they did their art projects.
- He is very curious about other little kids. When we are out shopping, he points and says baby if he spots another little one. If he sees bigger kids, he approaches cautiously but will stop short if they are not receptive (for example, if they grab toys closer and start yelling mine!). At daycare, the staff tell me he plays well with the other kids and he is good at sharing. (hope that lasts!)
- His tantrums are still cute at the moment. He runs around in a little circle screaming ahhhhhhhh!, sprawls out on the floor on his tummy, then rolls over on his back and kicks his legs in the air a few times. After this routine, he looks up at us and pouts.
- Sometimes he'll be sitting quite happily, playing or flipping through a book and suddenly he will get up, walk over to us, say bye and wave, then start walking away.
- He says please and 'tankkew'. He also is very good at saying bye to people. When he is having a tantrum in a shop and I pick up and tell him to say bye, he will stop crying to say bye and wave.
