I do not know where the time has gone with our little man turning 17-months-old this month. The past couple of months we have noticed such a change in his overall development. He is understanding what ‘no’ means, what we mean by ‘gentle hands’, how to hand things to others instead of throw, and he’s even apologizing when he doesn’t get it quite right. He is also trying to say and sign more words, which really helps to understand what he needs. When we ask him to bring us his shoes or a certain toy, he understands and goes and gets it.
Talking
He isn’t saying two words sentences, but we have noticed him trying to say words after us. It’s adorable when we are singing to him and he says a word here and there. These are all of the words RT says that are understandable.
- Dada
- Mama
- Issy (sissy)
- More, it sounds like Mah
- Milk
- Ball
- Book
- Dog
Signs
American Sign Language is used in our house every day throughout the day. It has really helped us understand his needs when he isn’t capable of telling us yet. These are words that he has mastered (well, at least he does them well enough that we understand him).
- All done
- More
- Mama
- Dog
- Again
- Music
- Thank you
- Please
- Eat/food
Signs that we are working on a lot at the moment
- Outside
- Help
- Water
- Shower
Food
RT is PICKY when it comes to eating. Before we started getting more strict with him, he would only nurse and eat fruit packs and only occasionally our food, but my husband and I finally had a conversation about how to tackle the problem. Now, its the food we eat. We still keep puffs and his other snacky foods from time to time, but his main source of food comes from our food, nursing, and healthy smoothies that I make the kids most mornings.
- Mommy’s milk
- Yogurt
- Homemade smoothies
- Homemade guacamole
- Spaghetti
- Rice dishes
- Healthy muffins
- Crackers
- Fruit
Mr. R is very independent when it comes to feeding himself. He’s getting better each day at using his utensils the right way. We often have food flung on the floor and walls that I have been starting to teach him to clean up.
Activities and Toys
- RT LOVES being outside. He doesn’t really even play with anything out there right now; he just loves to walk around and splash in puddles. He also likes to go into the street… Luckily we don’t live on a busy street, so it’s a good place to start learning street safety.
- Dancing. This kid is into anything with a good beat.
- Water. Whether it be in the shower, bath, puddles, rain, or just washing his hands.
- The Pikler set. His grandpa built his whole set for Christmas, and it’s amazing! If you don’t have a woodworker in the family, Etsy has SO many different options and Amazon has a couple I’ve seen. He hasn’t really shown an interest in climbing, but he loves walking and crawling up the slide, rolling his cars and balls down, and sliding down.
- He also loves his Wood City wooden stacker and sorter . He really likes when I count as he stacks or when I say “Where does the blue circle go?” This toy never gets rotated on his shelves because it gets played with multiple times each day.
- When we chase him around the house. We get big giggles and oh, how we love that noise!
- Cars. This is his favorite set that he plays with throughout the day. He loves just watching the wheels. Sometimes, he will place his head on the floor as he rolls them and roll them back and forth.
- Another toy that doesn’t get rotated is the Montessori Imbucare box. Little man entertains himself for a good 15 minutes just dropping the ball it came with or parts from his Wooden City Stacker Sorter (see above).
- Throwing beanbags and balls. We still have some work on learning to catch, but he’s a great thrower. I have to redirect him a lot to throw only soft items.
- Montessori Knobbed Cylinder Sorter is another favorite toy in our house. It comes with four individual sets and each of those come with five pieces to place. Note that little ones need to be supervised because the pieces are on the small side.
His dinosaur. He got it for Christmas from his great grandparents and loves it. It’s one of the few plastic toys we rotate in for him. It makes a cute little noise and walks on its own.
Other likes
- Wearing shoes
- Wearing shoes on his hands 🙂
- Wearing socks
- Swing on our indoor swing
Dislikes
- Staying inside for too long
- When we make him come inside
- Diaper changes
- Being in the car too long
Favorite Songs
- The Ants Go Marching
- Old McDonald
- The Wheels on the Bus
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
- Make You Believe, by Lucy Hale
- Phineas and Ferb music
- Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, by Selena Gomez
- Let It Go (from Frozen)
- 1950’s rock music
Books
Little Man hasn’t shown too much interest in books. He likes to flip the pages himself, but he doesn’t seem to care for sitting and listening, except when he nurses. Here are some of the ones we are focusing on:
Cars an Trucks and Things That Go
Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever
I am taking a Montessori/ Waldorf approach in his learning environment. His little play area is where we spend a good chunk of the day with activities I have laid out that spark his interest. These shelves get rotated out once a week.
Thanks for reading about little man’s progress!
littlehouseof4 
You must be logged in to post a comment.