V is for Vaughn-pire

At (almost) 16 months, our little Vampire is growing up! He now has 3 of his 4 vampire teeth, and the 4th can't be any more than another week away, judging by his swollen gums, cranky disposition, and tendency to hang upside down when he sleeps. After this, we only have the 2-year molars left, and hopefully they'll sneak in as quietly and pleasantly as his 1st-year ones did.

Don't let this happy smile fool you into coming too close

Eeeeek!

New and delightful tricks:

He'll bring you books to read to him, and he'll also sit down and "read" them himself now! One of his books has bright pictures of objects that are different colours, and he'll point to the picture and tell you what it is, by name. (Obviously, he's a genius.)

He says "please" (and makes the sign as well), and "pretty please" when prompted. He'll also rub his hands together when they're dirty, his sign for hand-washing. His vocabulary now includes:

• truck
• tractor
• kitty
• juice
• breakfast
• Jayce (his friend at daycare)
• hello (when he's holding a phone) (or a bananaphone!)
• hi! (if you enter a room or come back into view, or sometimes even just look at him)
• doggie
• walk
• baby
• book
• all done
• bye bye
• yeah (despite my best efforts, he won't change that to "yes", but at least he makes up for it with a very clear and decisive "no" every chance he gets!)

I know what you're thinking - other people have told us what their kids can say, and we hear the kids babble, and say (to ourselves, of course), "He's not actually saying words, he's just making sounds. The parents are obviously delusional." It's true. But, although there's little perfect pronunciation (except for the aforementioned "no"), the idea of each word is there and the sounds are becoming more distinct. And yes, we're delusional.

He says "cheeeeese" if he sees a camera (a ham? my son?) and knows that a ducky says "quack", and if you ask him what sound a lion makes, well... watch this!

He can take off his own socks and shoes, find his tummy and bellybutton, and point at all of Mommy and Daddy's facial features (and is enthralled by Mommy's Giant Belly, which he gave kisses to yesterday (awwww), and as of last night, I started training him to do chin-ups (it's never too early to start!) on the kitchen counter. He's also able to open and close almost anything (he can reach doorknobs now, but isn't quite tall enough to get the necessary grip to turn them, thank goodness), and we're starting to find toys that he's put away in kitchen cupboards and laundry hampers. He still eats like a champ, and when he's all done, he'll say it (the above video isn't a good clear "all done"), and make the sign, and then help me clean up his tray by putting all the extra pieces he didn't eat back onto his plate. Awesome.

And finally, we find dry diapers quite often now! The potty-socializing is going really well. On the days that I work, we get a morning and evening session in, which excellent results (two less poopy diapers for me to change counts as success to me!), and on weekends, he can go for 4-5 hours in the same (clean) diaper. Not that I have hope that he'll be fully trained anytime soon, but he doesn't seem to mind the process at all (probably because he loves to pee on us, which really should be "socialized" out of him before he goes to school) (kaff), and loves our goofy overreactions, so that's positive.

BUT

New and not-so-delightful tricks:

How long can we blame these on teething, I wonder, before we resign ourselves to these behaviours as simply his personality? For someone that says "no" as much as he does, saying "no" to him produces a meltdown, every time. He'll lie down and cry, or walk away, bellowing and looking balefully over his shoulder, as if to say, "Look what you made me do!" Taking something (usually dangerous or edible) away from him gets the same result - he sobs like you've broken his heart, the poor schmoo.

He has also discovered the joys of the Candy Basket, and can entertain himself quietly in the little corner behind the couch for quite a while, just taking things out and putting them back...or so I thought he was doing. Last night, I discovered a bag of jujubes that were all mangled. I'm not sure if he got any of the taste through the plastic bag, or if the jubes just feel good to chew on, but I had them removed. They're in a safer place now.* Either way, I must start taking the "if your child is too quiet, they're probably up to no good" warning seriously.

He's also very alert, as always, but can now distinguish between, say, the cut-up strawberries, cantelope and grapes that he gets to eat for dessert and the candy that Daddy is eating, even though they're similar colours and sizes. Much to our dismay, the dietary double standard is going to have to stop.

Boo.

*Ok, I ate them.