21 months

today talan is 21 months old. 21 months sounds way better than 20 months. just think how it will sound when i call him 53 months. that'll be fun.
i feel like talan has done A LOT this month and i'm not even sure that i'll be able to begin to capture it in this blog.
talan can now get past child proof items such as the door knob locks. i have heard there are better ones out there, so i may have to look into them. he doesn't usually bother most doors, like hayden's which is a bit surprising because he LOVES to go in hayden's room. but he does now go into the bathroom anytime he feels like. so not only can he get past the door knob child proofing, he can also get past the cabinet door child proofing as well. he just very casually opens the cabinet door as far as the lock allows, the sticks his finger in, presses down, and bam, the cabinet door is open. his favorite thing to do once in the bathroom and then once in the cabinet is to open the drawer where all of the bathtub toys are kept, empty the ENTIRE drawer out by dumping each toy, one by one, into the bathtub and then climbing into the tub himself. one day he even turned a water knob right before i came in to get him and it got his blanket, which he of course had with him, a bit wet. "uh oh. waa-waa" he told me. yeah. thanks, talan.
if he's not playing in the tub then he's climbing up on the sink trying to reach his toothbrush. he loves to brush his teeth. his new favorite thing is to suck the water off of it and hand it back to you to "refill" it over and over again.
talan's favorite christmas gifts this year were music related. a yo gabba gabba guitar that hayden got for him, some drums for the bathtub, a little thomas drum, and a tambourine that justica got him which he broke in literally the first 2 minutes he had it. but he sure did love it for those 2 minutes. he has little to no attention span, but with a toy like these, he might actually play with it for over 2 minutes. he has about 4 different sets of drumsticks and he carries them around with him all day long. he usually is very good about not banging on things that he shouldn't be banging on, although we have had our moments. he actually calls his drumsticks "bang."
talan is no dummy and it appears he really does not like the cold weather. even if it's not THAT cold out and i bring him out to the car with no hat on, he covers up his face or ears and makes a horrible face and starts breathing all funny. i don't blame him one bit.
talan is a total daredevil and pain really doesn't seem to bother him most of the time. he loves to skateboard in the basement and actually does quite well at it. he loves to climb on anything he can. he jumps and spins and does kicks. and apparently while we were out on december 28th, jessica and justin witnessed him do 2 perfect somersaults...his very first ones. since then he does them almost every day.
he has recently started wanting to go up and down the stairs by walking instead of crawling. he usually will do the first two that way and then turn around to crawl realizing it's much faster that way. if someone is there though, he'll take your hand instead so he can get down faster but still by his preferred method.
i have been keeping peanut butter away from talan for as long as possible as the last thing i want is for him to have a peanut allergy. months and months ago dave did give him some peanut related food and he's gotten his hands on several other things from hayden's plate so i wasn't too concerned, just tried to keep it away the best i could. one day, jessica and justin took talan and hayden for the afternoon and apparently justin fed talan some of his peanut butter fudge. they didn't tell me for several days thinking i'd be upset. on christmas eve, talan reached right up on the counter to the plate of peanut butter fudge, grabbed a piece and ate the whole thing. he LOVED it. since then we have gone to "the peanut restaurant" as hayden calls logan's because you throw your peanut shells on the floor, and i realized there is no reason to keep it from him anymore. so he ate peanut after peanut. his new favorite food is the orange peanut butter crackers. we'll just keep hoping that in a few years he doesn't suddenly become allergic.
talan is a fairly good eater most days. he has been known to eat more dinosaur chicken nuggets than hayden. i know that's not saying too much, but he's eaten 5 before. he also loves apples. he still would rather eat on the go, however. if he's sitting to eat, he'll take a bite or two before he starts saying "all done" which actually does sound just like "all done" he's finally added the n to the done. i usually can get him to sit a bit longer to eat some more. but he would be perfectly content to just keep walking back to his plate and grabbing something to eat for the rest of the day than to sit and eat a whole meal at the table. he is also a food grabber. just last nite he went into the kitchen when nobody was looking and ate the rest of hayden's cupcake that was sitting on the table.
we are already into january and talan hasn't had a single ear infection yet this winter! i actually just set up his surgery appointment to have tubes put in and also to have the cyst removed on his nose at the same time. he will be going in to the southfield providence hospital on friday, february 27th early in the morning to have those things finally taken care of. figure after those surgeries are done, our super high deductible will be met for the year! which will mean frequent visits to the dr. for any little thing!!!
his bedtime continues to be between 7 and 8 with nap time at 1 lasting until 3:30 or 4. although we had a streak of days where he never did take a nap at all. those days were definitely 7pm bedtime days! he goes to bed really easily still and doesn't usually wake up at nite. he has been sleeping in a bit more recently and gets up anytime from 7:30-8:30. he used to be a huge grouch when he would get up but lately he's been much more pleasant (unless you wake him up!). he'll sit in his crib and point up at pictures saying "dada. mama. haen" then he'll point to his blanket until i say "blanket" he'll grab his stuff pooh bear and say "pooh!" and immediately start saying and signing "milk" until we get him up and into this kitchen.
talan loves playing with trains, just like hayden always has. instead of making the "f" sound he now says "choo choo" perfectly.
he actually has come pretty far this past month with his speech. he is trying to say a lot more than he ever has and he is becoming much easier to understand with certain words. he says dada, mama, and has even said daddy and mommy a couple of times. hayden is still haen and justin is some weird noise that comes from his throat. the other day, mom came over to watch him for a bit and he ran to her and said something that was grandma. the ma was on the end but i missed the first part. he said it again a day or two later. he also says papa. when he was over at their house the last time, he went running in and said "papa!" and apparently he said it so well, dad thought it was hayden.
he recently started saying "hi" and it is one of the cutest things you will ever hear. he is typically a really loud child, but he'll just wave his hand and in the sweetest, softest voice say "hi. hi. hi." over and over again. he has also said bye several times, but not nearly as often as hi.
he also says "bity" for binky and has been pretty good about not having it except for at bedtime. there are times we forget and times that he finds one, but for the most part i'm trying to keep them away until he is put in his crib. they are always on hand when we go out in public though. just so darn handy to shut him up!
his temper is even stronger now and his favorite word is "no!" it really is SO cute when he says it because he puts this funny little accent on it and he runs away from you while he's yelling it. of course there are plenty of times it stops being cute and funny, but for the most part we have to try to keep the laughing in. he will grab something he's not supposed to have and when we go to take it from him, he RUNS from us and hides somewhere that we have a hard time reaching him in. the whole time yelling "no! no! no!" ahhh, the terrible two's strike early!
recently whenever we go to a store, if i turn my back for a second or walk over to get something to put in the cart, he'll sit in the cart and YELL "MAMA! MAMA!" the whole time. one old lady told me the other day "well, he'll never get lost!" he keeps the store entertained, that's for sure.
he loves to ride on his big trucks in the basement and says "beep beep" the whole time. he still loves to make messes, especially in the basement where he takes out every toy in about 5 minutes. he loves watching fireflight on our tivo...we typically watch it over 3 times a day. he loves to rock out with his guitar showing moves that he surely picked up from fireflight shows. he loves throwing and catching balls and is very good at it. he says "baball" for football anytime he sees a football or whenever it's on tv. he loves babies and points them out all of the time. he still has a crazy infatuation with justin and will run and lay in his arms for minutes on end and he won't look at or talk to anybody else while he's in justin's arms. he loves going "bye bye" and is very easy to get dressed because of it, but when we're out he typically doesn't really want to be out. i think it's strictly for the snacks he gets while in his stroller. he loves suckers and has become a much less messy with them. he loves to hold our hands at dinner before we pray. he typically loves playing with and chasing hayden. he loves using a fork to eat but is still horrible with a spoon. many days he loves to sit in your lap and have you read books to him. he loves "pips" or what we call chips. he recently developed a love for the baby einstein movies. he loves to point and say things as if he is counting, but most of it sounds just like "8" or other nonsense. when you ask him something, you used to say a VERY energetic "YEAH!" recently it has turned into a "yup!
he hates leaving socks or slippers on. he hates being told no. he still hates sitting still. he hates having his haircut and most recently it became a two day event. he hates when i walk out the door, but he typically gets over it pretty quickly.
he really knows how to keep a person on their toes, but most days we still do far more laughing with him than not. he is hilarious and knows just what to do at just what time to make someone laugh. his facial expressions are amazing and i wish we were able to take pictures of every single one so we don't ever forget them.
we love you so much, talan! can't wait to see what you get into next month!!!! happy 21 months!