Matthew at 21 (and a bit) months

[lnr]

I thought I'd split this into a separate post.

Matthew is getting downright chatty - his words are coming thick and fast now and he's getting better at saying existing ones too - milk has gone from "mi" to "malk" in just the last few days. He's still not quite getting the S sound at the beginning of some words, but he's starting to occasionally string two or three words together. He's joining in with singing - the last word of each line at least anyway. He's still signing a few things, but I think those will tail off a bit more now he's speaking more. We're going to do one more term of the Sing and Sign classes anyway, since he still enjoys the singing.

He can count! Forwards from 1 to 13 (the number of steps he goes down every night) and backwards less accurately from 10. He can reliably recognise two things without having to count them, and is getting there with three too.

He's also getting ever keener at climbing on things, which can at times be alarming, and is loving his balance bike. He's starting to get the hang of getting dressed and tries to put his trousers on himself - he has more luck with Tshirts and can just about do that on his own. He loves helping, and likes to get the steps out in the kitchen so he can wipe things in the sink. He loves balls of all sorts and throwing and kicking them. And he adores balloons as much as ever, but now also really enjoys them being blown up and let off. He also loves cars and trains, and makes appropriate beep beep and choo choo noises. And he loves both books and his games on the ipad and the telly - but likes playing outside too regardless of the weather.

His sleeping is still on and off - with 3 or 4 wakes not uncommon of late, but a sleep more or less through last night with just a few stirs and no need for Mike to get out of bed. He's still not the world's most interested eater - he likes quite a lot of foods, but will often need feeding while he's playing with something in order to actually be bothered to eat them. He's still breastfeeding, but no longer overnight.

He's much happier at the childminder's again, and she has some fantastic photos of him playing outside in particular. They've also made some nice things together in the run up to Christmas including a card and a Christmas tree ornament for mummy and daddy. Hopefully he won't be too unhappy to go back tomorrow after a week and a half off!