Just Everyday Miracles: What's New at 21 Months Old

This month has been fun, because the weather has just gotten gorgeous, and we can't help ourselves but to be outside enjoying it as often as possible. We've gone on several family outings (at least one each weekend), but being the dizzy girl that I am, I forgot to bring the camera on a few too many of these occasions. We've been trying to enjoy the fall festivals and brunches on Saturday mornings at such perfect spots as the Farm at South Mountain.

Gabe's language has gotten much more proficient this month, and he seems to be using new words and combinations of words each day. Every time he's introduced to a word, he at least makes an attempt at pronouncing it, even if it comes out sounding a lot like his other words. I've been trying to encourage this practice by asking him to use his words when he starts whining like a cretin :). And what a cute little cretin he is too.

Gabe has mastered the upper case alphabet this month, and he likes "reading" the letters off of everything he sees. He loves playing fill in the blank when we sing the alphabet song too. He has a real passion for books, which is so fun for me to see. Gabe's latest accomplishment is having learned his numbers by sight and also how to count up to ten. The other day, he happened to have ten Cheerios on his highchair tray, and he pointed to and counted each one by one, coming up with the right number. This is such a fun learning age. I wish that I could expose him to more, because I think that this critical window for absorbing knowledge can't last forever. Pretty soon, he's bound to get distracted with more interesting things like friends and the pursuit of sweets and video games, and sitting around playing flashcards is going to be the last thing on his agenda.

This month, Gabe has also started feeling more comfortable climbing, walking up and down steps, and kicking balls. He loves to throw balls, and everyone seems to comment that he has a great arm. Now, if only I could get him to refrain from throwing non-ball type objects in the viscinity of his sisters. Over the last several months, Gabe has been too antsy and impatient for his stroller. Recently, we started letting him walk behind the stroller and "push" Ari in the stroller. I've told him that he either needs to hold onto the rubber handhold or the bars on the stroller whenever he gets to walk on his own, and so far, he's heeded that requirement.

Gabe is still going through somewhat of a moody stage. Although I wish that it would pass, I think that, in large part, it's just a part of his personality. He also has to compete for attention and for being held with a new baby and his twin sister with special needs, so I can't say that I blame him for throwing a tantrum or two every day. As much as he wants to be a big boy at certain times, he's still a baby at others. Sometimes even I need a reminder of that.

This month, Gabe's likes include: blocks, cars, trains, trucks, the park, the mall play area, pushing the stroller, his DVDs, his favorite song: a hip hop remix of 'mary had a little lamb', flashcards, throwing balls, playing rough, being read books, looking out windows and waving 'bye' to visitors, pointing at cars and naming their colors ("red car", "yellow car"), bananas, apples (and most other foods), Infant Tylenol, and bath time.

This month, Gabe's dislikes include: sharing, vegetables, being confined to the stroller (especially in the grocery store), having a shirt pulled over his head, getting his teeth brushed, having to share Mama with his sisters, time out, and when Daddy leaves or puts him down... sounds pretty typical.

This month has been eventful for Ariana as well. Big news on Ari: she has learned how to actually suck the liquid out of a sippy cup spout! Whereas before, Ari could only hold the sippy cup and chew the spout to release the liquid, Ari has finally acquired the oral motor coordination to suck from the spout. She can also hold the cup on her own. Of course, she still dribbles a lot and sometimes sucks out more than she can swallow, so I don't use the cup as her main method of fluid intake. But, still! She demands the cup whenever she sees Gabe with one, so I often give in. She is so motivated to master it, that it definitely is only a matter of time before she does.

Gross motor wise, Ari is still using rolling as her primary mode of transport, earning her the nickname "steamroller." Although she hasn't made too many gains in her sitting, I can tell that she's getting stronger, because when I've been putting her in a four-point crawl position, she is often able to hold herself there for a minute or two. This is revolutionary for her... and she knows it -- you can tell by her grin.

Lately, Ari has become an even more terrible eater than before. And she was terrible then too. I am seriously to the point where I think I'm going to take her in for feeding therapy, in addition to her speech therapy, because this is just too much. You know, I never believed it myself when other moms would tell me the same thing, but this is the absolute hardest part of having a special needs child so far. When your child doesn't eat, I think that there is something in a mother that instinctively panics. Ariana is adamant about refusing food. And I'm not talking about just her veggies either. Tell me what child hates noodles, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, rice, pizza, bread, and hot dogs? She'll eat cereal, yogurt, fruit, and sometimes veggies. That's it. Sometimes, I get lucky and she'll eat a bite of this or that, but not really. And it's not normal food refusal either. It's screaming like I have her hand in a vice, turning blue, getting so mad that she chokes. I sweat just thinking about the next meal.

Ari is saying a new word this month. It's "dada"! And yes, she definitely knows who she's talking about. Her receptive language has always far surpassed her expressive language, meaning that she can pretty much understand whatever we say, take directions, answer questions, etc. But a new word is always a great gain. This makes her expressive vocabulary three words: hi, mama, & dada.

In therapy, Ariana has made major gains with purposeful release of an object. In other words, she doesn't always throw or lose control of an object once in her hands. She is able to softly and purposefully hand it off to someone else, or place it into a container. Go Ari!

This month, Ari's likes include: fruits, snack foods (Cheerios, Kix, Goldfish crackers), sing along songs, phones, cameras, books, magazines, paper to shred, sippy cups, her DVDs, Isabella, Gabe, being a big girl, throwing things, sitting at her table, being the center of attention, and toys that Gabe wants.

This month, Ari's dislikes include: most foods (especially savory foods or foods with chewy textures), sharing, when someone leaves the room, being hit by Gabe, when Gabe screams, going to bed, and getting her teeth brushed.

Gabe loves building with his new blocks.

Ariana can't get enough of the Creepseter Crawler that her Occupational Therapist, Becky, lent to us. We hope to get her one of her own if she shows progress in it and continues to enjoy it.