Justin Milestones XXI

It's been a while since his last milestone entry, so I figured I'd mention that at 22 months, Justin Alexander... 

• is a quarter pounder (with cheese). After being exactly 24 pounds for over 6 months, we thought he'd never break the 25-pound mark. But he is officially over the hump. Hooray, Justin. Of course we had the same anxiety when he was trying to break the 20-pound-and-turn-the-seat-around marker 12 months ago. Took forever! He was stuck on 19 for what seemed like decades. Something about those intervals of 5... ?

• has finally gotten hip to the water dispenser on the refrigerator door... which just means that we've gotten hip to the water lock button just above it. 

• has his upper canines coming in. It's been so long since new teeth that this one caught us off guard for sure. After these two, he'll need 4 more teeth and his dientes de leche will be complete.

• is still more content to whine, grunt, or drag you towards what he wants rather than to try to use the words that he knows. Granted, he is speaking a lot more these days and is increasing his vocabulary beyond his favorite three words ("no", "daddy", and one of his first ever, "happy happy")... But he still does more repeating than anything else. On the positive side, he is finally starting to stretch himself in terms saying words before you prompt him. This morning we found him going through some homemade picture flash cards on his own (pictures of jugo, zapatos, perro, banana) and I think we were both kinda shocked that he got 'em all right. I guess it's time to make new flash cards.

• Is way better than daddy when it comes to saying thank you every time he is given something (yeah, yeah... I'm working on it).

• Will babble on the telephone (real or imaginary) for as long as you let him. But good luck with the translation.
   Everything is a telephone, by the way... shoes, remote controls, building blocks, and (in desperate situations) either of his empty hands. For a few months now, he has also been a connoisseur of imaginary food, which apparently is quite delicious. 

• probably is starting to discern between the two languages he hears, and has already learned that, when in doubt, say them both. So if you take his food or drink, you'll hear him running after you screaming, "mine mio! mine mio!"... funny stuff.

•  can tell you his animal sounds if you ask him what each one says (horse, dog, cat, cow, in particular) and can fill in the blanks in the alphabet song (give him a-b-c-d and he'll give you e-f-g). Hopefully with summertime here and more time to work with him, we can turn the corner in the coming months and really get his speech up and running.

• Loves Old MacDonald and Curious George.

• Turns TWO YEARS OLD in 40 days... Wasn't he just born yesterday? Incredible.