Marcus is twenty months old!
Marcus turned twenty months old a couple days ago. This has been an eventful month, as you can see from some of the shots on this page.
Marcus definitely gained some weight, though he's mostly still in 18-month clothes and the size 4 diapers. His feet grew--he's now wearing a size 6 toddler, or a 22 or so European size. He's still loving daycare, and he's also started loving the nursery at church. He'll leap down and run on in on his own as soon as we get near the room, and one of the workers said he has the best sense of humor. He really does have a sense of humor--I don't know what he did at the nursery to show them that, but at home he plays "hide the towel" jokes on Robert when Robert is trying to get out of the shower in the morning, "I don't want to see you, Mommy--no wait, just kidding, of course I do!" jokes on me when I pick him up at daycare, and "here, you can have this--wait, gotcha!" jokes on both of us at home. (Below, two breakfasts at daycare.)
His vocabulary has expanded tremendously, though his pronunciation is not always textbook perfect. His /b/ words include book, bath, box, bird, bus, baby, belly, ball, bottle, balloon, button, apple, boom, roomba, buckle, and boo--he loves covering his own face, then popping out and saying "Boo!" He also says done, hi, bye, trash, teeth, water, cup, chair, spoon, up, down, no, dog, fish, food, tissue, shoe, sock, shirt, head, hat, hot, and woof-woof, as well as "excuse me," "help me," "I see," "eat," "share," and "have"; those last three he always uses as questions, meaning, "Can I eat something?" or "Do you want to share," or "Can I have that?" He's learned to jump, both up and down in place and also off of small ledges or steps (Robert thinks it's important to add here that while Marcus clearly understands the concept of jumping, rarely do both of his feet actually leave the floor at the same time). He'll express preferences--demand a hat upon going out sometimes, or choose a particular sling and bring it to me to indicate he wants to go up in it. Our favorite word that he says is banana, which comes out sounding sort of like "diddil-diddil-da." He can answer questions like, "Where's Marcus's/Daddy's/Mommy's belly/head/ears?" Once recently while riding around on a lion toy (which he insisted was a dog), he answered the question "What does the lion say?" by saying "woof!"
He's been loving his swimming lessons, although we missed the last two due to scheduling conflicts; he'll practice blowing bubbles in the bath tub--if he can squeeze it in, between washing his baby doll, playing with his small dinosaurs, and generally walking around the tub happily. Above, tub baby; Roomba-surfing baby (bodysurfing style); and toothbrushing baby.
This month was Easter (above, in his Easter outfit)--we went to Good Friday and Easter Sunday services at Park Street, both with Sarah, Sean, Debbie, and Chris. Marcus loves Sean, likes Sarah, is neutral on Chris, and is scared of Debbie, as best we can tell; at Golden Gate in Chinatown, over fried milk on Good Friday, he sat between me and Sean and handed Sean choice pieces of chicken, as well as his Matchbox car; whenever he looked across the table and saw Debbie, though, his eyes would narrow suspiciously. We went up to Salem, to the Hawthorne Hotel, for Easter brunch with Grandpa Richard and Great-Grandma Helena, and Marcus almost ate more at the buffet than Helena did. On Maundy Thursday Mona came to town, visiting friends for the weekend, and Marcus and I got to hang out with her and go to Flour Bakery and other fun South End places.
There have been some really beautiful days, so we've been going back and getting acquainted with playgrounds after the long winter. We go anywhere by T, so one day we met some Isis babies at a playground in Brookline, past Coolidge Corner, and then went to a Turkish restaurant in Washington Square for lunch. Other days I'll take him to the Clarendon and Comm park, and we almost always stop at Titus Sparrow on our walk home from daycare.
One Sunday we went to brunch in the Back Bay on the way home from church, then the dog park (pictured above) in the Southwest Corridor (Robert calls it baby TV--Marcus can mindlessly eat Cheerios and watch dogs there for quite awhile) and the enclosed tot lot right next to it, before a quick stop for Korean frozen yogurt and then home. (Below, wearing Marcus out and about--or just a minute after arriving home.)
On Marathon Monday, with school closed, Marcus and I walked up to Hynes and turned right on Comm Ave. We found a spot near Hereford Street, just where the runners turn, and enjoyed the sunshine. Since we got there nice and early, there was lots of space--baby jumped on and off the curb, played on the barriers, drove his car around, and picked up trash until it was almost time. When we heard that the men's wheelchair racers were in Kenmore, I scooped Marcus up into my sling and we watched the men's and women's wheelchair racers together. He clapped and cheered along with me, and when he was getting sleepy--and while there was a lull between the wheelchairs and the runners--we turned back, had lunch out, and headed home, enjoying the day but avoiding the craziness of the marathon in Boston. (Below, on our way home from the marathon, and after we arrived home.)
Also this month the daycare took a trip to the Aquarium, and several other mothers and I went along. It was nice to meet the moms--Robert has met them before, since he does drop-offs, but none of them are ever there when I pick Marcus up around 2:00 or 3:00.
We also had a nice evening with Howard over; a nice dim sum out with Ghaz, Alyssa, and Sami; a beautiful day with Bob for the iPad release, a Thai lunch, and a walk down the Charles.
Basically, it's been a good month, baby--next month in India!
And, a couple movies from the month, just to leave you with:
Baby's first chocolate bunny, Easter night, back home after a nice day out.
Marcus and Robert playing with trains--they can set up a track and play with it for hours.
A few days before Easter, Marcus "helps" me roll some cookies and put them on a cookie sheet.
Marcus enjoying some time at a Back Bay playground.