Feeding the Ducks

We had some warm weather today so got out and fed the ducks. Henry is really into making all his toys "eat" right now so it was extra fun this time. He kept saying "duckies eat".

My week with a 20 month old

Nothing too exciting to report this week. Have been having lots of fun with my 20 month old Henry. He's got his colours mostly down now and he's been working on memorizing the names of the Sesame Street characters. His talking and understanding is improving significantly each day. He knows loads of words and his pronunciation is finally starting to improve; he can now say bat and bunny perfectly!

He fell in love with Elmo and Big Bird from a couple of books we have and just this week we watched some Sesame Street on Youtube which he loved. Here he is watching it on the computer and also pulling off the 3 key.

His other favourite thing to watch right now is a baby einstein video we have featuring animals - he goes and finds the DVD and brings it to us saying "ammo".

We've been going out a bit as it has finally mostly stopped raining but Henry often doesn't want to go out and it is a huge chore to get him dressed in warm clothes. He is very into picking out all of his own clothes these days too. And as much as I have loved picking outfits for him I also love seeing him in his own creations. He of course loves anything with an animal or car or dinosaur on it.

He's still playing with his train table. It's in the basement now so when he wants to play he'll say some combination of "down", "trains", and "choo choo". We went out last night to buy a few more pieces which allows us to make more of the track elevated. Henry doesn't care of course but it's more fun for Kevin and I now.

Here he is playing with a doll. I am trying to encourage him to play with things other than cars - broaden his interests. We call the dolls babies and he likes to give them kisses. I gave him a blanket to put on them to help put them to sleep but he prefers ripping it off of them and he still doesn't like them riding in his doll stroller. His grandparents have gotten him into playdough this week and he has been requesting that several times a day.

And I pulled another non-car toy out of the closet the other day. The wooden dinosaurs that Kevin and I made about 2 years ago. Kevin drew them, I cut them out on the scroll saw, and then we painted them together. We also made a whole set of barnyard animals but my plan is to save those for Christmas. He loves the dinosaurs and it is awesome to see him playing with them. So far he mostly stands them up, then accidentally knocks them over, and then stands them up again. He also likes to kiss them as you can see in the last picture.

Bean Bin

I saw this idea somewhere months and months ago so of course I don't remember where it was now. But I was reminded of it when Henry was helping me make the granola that other day and he really liked putting the oats in the measuring cup and playing with them a bit.

The idea is simple - just dry beans in a big container to play in like an indoor sandbox. I'm sure it was recommended for slightly older kids but I know my Henry and feel confident that he's not going to choke on one or even put them in his mouth.

He has been having a ball playing in there the past few days. He asks to go in several times a day and sometimes he also just wants us to put a few beans on the floor for him to put them back in the bin. And so far he is very good at keeping them in the bin. What a great toy!

Chalk

I am so excited to get into arts and crafts with Henry and was starting to get a bit bored of finger painting. Markers are too difficult because he has to put the exact right part onto the paper and crayons are too difficult because he has to push too hard. At car free Sunday in Waterloo Henry seemed to be having some luck with the sidewalk chalk. So I went out and got him some of his own chalk and a chalk board and we tried it today. And it's a success. He purposely drew with the chalk and I think he enjoyed it.It`s very hot today (34C feels like 46C) so we are staying in the air conditioning. Here are some of the other things we`ve been doing to keep occupied inside the house.
Eating popsicles even though it`s nice and cool inside
Getting out all the toys, these are usually kept away because all he likes to do is throw them around
A pillow fight, it was a bit one-sided but Henry loved being hit with a big pillow
Some guitar playingRunning around the sewing room. Kevin hates my blurry pictures and is always telling me to give it up and turn on the flash but didn`t this one turn out awesome?!And some boring old finger painting. Henry's finger painting has really improved over the past month or so - it has become so deliberate, he totally gets what he's doing and moves the paint around with one finger.I think I`ve used up all my ideas for activities, not sure what we'll do when he wakes up from his nap.