Arthur's expanding repertoire

Well, Arthur turned 16 months yesterday, and in the last couple of days he's started trying to say proper words. He's been jabbering on all day everyday for weeks, talking complete nonsense. To him, what he's been saying has been really important, but to us, we haven't a clue!

After taking him for a walk around Eden yesterday, he's trying to say 'flower', it comes out 'fower'. He's started to say 'night night' at bedtime, which comes out like 'naght naght' (as if he's a northerner!). He says 'ook' for book, and 'bu' for bus. He says 'tractor' and 'digger' as clear as day, but 'tractor' can mean anything moving that isn't a car or a bus or a digger! He says 'brm, brm, brm' very enthusiastically for motorbikes. His first word was 'duck', closely followed by 'dog', both said very distinctly! Now, anything that flies is a 'duckda', and especially Pingu on the telly! 'Dog' has turned into 'dog dog, oof oof' for woof woof. And since seeing a program on telly about a cat & kittens, he's trying to do a meow sound too. The funniest one of all though, is 'boobies' which comes out like 'bubah' and frantic pointing to his own nipples or more often my boobs! I wonder when he'll try to say 'milk', or 'drink', or 'eat', all of which he does baby signing for. He says 'Dada' quite a lot now, and gets excited when he comes home from work. When he's upset or angling for attention from me, I get 'mimmy, mimmy' over and over. He has said 'baba' for baby on a few occasions too. If you say to him 'oo oo, ah ah ah' (for monkey) he copies and gets his toy monkey and gives it a hug!

He can now point to his (or anyone elses) nose, ears and mouth and we're trying to teach him eyes, chin & cheeks. He points to his head or his foot when asked and he knows where his toes are. When I suggest we go out and he wants to do this, he'll get his shoes and socks and either put them on top of his feet, or hand them to me and present a foot for me to put them on!

He's proficient at taking his own bib off, and has been known to take his own trousers off! It's a little more tricky trying to get them back on himself though!

He hates having his nappy changed, and it's becoming a real battle now. He hates sitting on his potty even more though, so the battles will have to continue for the time being :(

He's breastfeeding when he gets up and when he goes to bed, and if we're at home during the day, he'll feed after a nap. If we're out and about, he's far too busy for drinking milk! He's self-weaned really well, and at times I thought he'd stop altogether, much to my dismay, but he's sticking with it for the time-being, and yesterday, had two feeds in the day??!!

He has never had a drop of formula or cows milk, which isn't going to change in the near future. He's coming on better with cooked dairy now, and can mostly handle a small amount of cheese or butter in sandwiches, but cream cheese still makes him sick or very poopy, I dread to think what cream or milk would do to him.

My little baby is growing up so quickly!