ANOKE IS 1.5 YEARS OLD TODAY!

Anoke is at the age where he's doing so many things that I have to think, "What isn't he doing?"
Anoke understands EVERYTHING! In English and in Spanish!

His vocabulary is increasing daily! I'm having a hard time keeping up with my list of Anoke's new words. "Peepee" and "pooh" are new words that he understands and says at the appropriate times - I'm thinking it might be time to start potty training (he's made the connection between what he feels, what happens, and what he produces when he pees.). He's also saying, "niño" and "niña", and "up!" a lot, he often wants to be in arms so he can see what's going on. What Anoke is currently doing is singing. "Dah, dah, dah, daaaahhh!" (Mozart); "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do"; "Twinkle, twinkle, little star...” He's also making new animal sounds, "mooooo", "roar!”, and "meow". I'm very happy that he's understanding and using the word, "please" consistently. He continues to sign while talking.

Anoke can take off his shirts and pull off his socks. He can run and climb and is trying really hard to jump! He can dance and has danced for months now, but he's now adding spins and turns to his repertoire. He can color and paint and play with Playhdoh. He can organize shapes with like shapes and stack blocks as tall as he is. He recognizes colors and is beginning to understand numbers. He is able to recognize similarities and differences in things and is sorting, comparing, contrasting and grouping innumerable objects, facts, people, feelings and ideas. I'm able to see how he's concept forming by his use of language. I watch and listen carefully and am able to see him differentiating, for example, the red trucks from the yellow cars, or the triangles from the circles.

He can feed himself, his monkey, and me! He can reach and turn doorknobs, open and close doors, the fridge, etc. He can lift the toilet seat up. He can open boxes and packages and unhinge things that are closed. He likes to hide objects and then put his hands up in the air to gesture, "Where?" and then show you where the hidden object is. Pickaboo is played daily on many levels. He likes to kick and throw balls and has a surprisingly strong arm and good aim. He's very physical and active and loves to do yoga poses ("downward dog").

He can hold hands and walk, but not for long, he's very much exercising his independence...he learned, "mine" at preschool, but he also knows how to share. I'm keeping a balance between his need for independence and his need to be protected. He often protests the later, but that's typical toddler behavior.

He can brush his teeth and wash his hands and his body and of course, splash, splash, splash, everywhere! (I think I'll take him back to swimming classes again.).

Anoke is a big toddler, both tall and chubby. He has almost all of his teeth. He’s wearing 2T clothes and 6/7 shoes. When he stands in his crib, he can hang by his armpits and let his arms danggle over the railing. His head towers above the bar. It's not long before he'll be able to climb out of the crib!

He also has tantrums and I think the "terrible twos" have started early, but that's okay, I have the patience...