21 month old...three new words!

Starring - 21 month old

For those of you who liked reading about our youngest, I am proud to say that he has added three more words to his repertoire! 
'Dayde' is now used to call his sister (which is a close approximation) and sometimes without a verbal prompt.  The second word, verbally unprompted now, is 'ta' - although he does get confused and say 'ta' when giving rather than just receiving!  The third is 'tea', but this is prompted by the Thomas (the tank engine) cup!  21 months has a taste for de-caf green tea with honey! We now have; ta, bye-bye, moon, bubbles, more, cheese, up, apple and tea in addition to 'daddy', 'mum-mum' and 'dayde' (according to the child-health nurse, the names of family members don't count in a word bank!)

Helping Mum mow the lawn

21 months has been attending play-dates and the local playgroup.  Although small, there is a number of Mum's with a plethora of skills and backgrounds attending the playgroup, and it is a wealth of local knowledge.  Some Mum's have lived here all their lives, and some are new like me.  Some Mum's work, others stay at home and do things like quilting!  I am amazed at the art/craft skills as Mum's paint, write, draw, quilt and sew!

Heading for chook mansion

Talking to the nosy Alpacas

21 months still loves the chooks above all, and he points to the window and says 'buuurrr, burk' to indicate that he wants to see them.  We say 'chickens?' and instead of trying to repeat, he nods his head to say 'yes' (we are trying to get him to verbalise 'yes', but every time we say the word he just nods his head LOL).  In addition, he spies the eggs on the bench-top and tries to count by making sounds 'un', 'ooo', 'tee' - yes, we are certainly shaping this :)!  21 months' daily job is to collect the eggs.  If we are too early, he admonishes the girls with a wagging finger and tells them off!  If there are eggs, he counts them with his sounds and not-to-carefully puts the eggs into his bucket.  He then strokes the chickens (those who will let him and there are four who seek him), but ruins the moment by trying to force them into their feeder or into their water.  He then has to be taken out of the hen-house! 

Six eggs today - good girls!

Helping feed the Alpaca's is another job 21 months enjoys, but as we are trying to tame our new girls, he gets very cranky that I won't let him down to chase them.  I am worried that he will be kicked by the girls, and he is at kicking height.  I walk out with him on one hip and holding four buckets, whilst Daughter feeds the two boys in the pen.  Voddy and Boo are used to 21 months, and Voddy allows him to touch her neck.  Kayjay and Lucky are very curious about him, and come up with their ears up to look at him, but 21 months gets very excited and squeals so they then back off!

Feeding Vodka - Alpaca in a bucket!

I love calf muesli!!

Vodka is unsure of Husband - he got her on the floor last time to help clip her nails!

In addition, 21mths loves play-doh...well, eating it when he can get away with it.  This is his favourite playgroup activity and he has the opportunity to do it at home on rainy days.  It has been a great talking activity, though he concentrates so much on rolling, flattening, cutting and sneakily eating that he won't actually talk!  I sabotage the situations so that he has to ask for the cutters, rollers etc, and he gets very cranky.

For those of you reading this blog in Perth...21 months still gets up early - so I put Thomas on so that the rest of the house can sleep, whilst I blog :)