20 1/2 Months Old

So, I meant to do this closer to his 20 month birthday, which passed on June 30th; however, I since I missed it, I figured that I would probably miss his 21st month as well since we will be out of town. (We have to leave to renew our visas. We think we will go to Egypt, since it seems the cheapest option and sounds really cool!) So anyway, that is why I am posting mid-month about our sweet boy!

The cutest thing happened at the playground yesterday, and has happened before when I take off Canaan's hat. Most of the time he runs around with a hat on when we are outside, because I am afraid his bald head will burn! However, every-once-in-a-while, I take his hat off for about 15 minutes to try to give it a small chance to soak in the heat and vitamins. I did this yesterday and a little girl who was just a few inches taller than Canaan came up to him and grabbed his arm. (She was trying to slow him down because he loves to run away/ be chased by other kids- especially girls!) Anyway, she grabbed his arm and pulled him close, and reached her other hand up and rubbed the top of his head! Then she let go and they continued playing! It was so cute! Everyone wants to get their hands on his adorable, bald head. Which, I must say looks like it has a little more hair on it. It is just very thin and light colored, so what there is, you can't really see anyway! But, another little girl did this to Canaan the other day as well and people at church always find a second to reach down and rub the top of his head as he walks by!

He has a few new words. It is interesting how his language learning mirrors ours in a small way. He picks up on some words and will use them correctly. However, with other words, he will use them in just one way and is confused when we use it differently. For example, when he first learned the word "go," he thought it was only to signal leaving the house, such as in "go outside" or "go to the store." So when we would say, "Let's go to the kitchen," he would run to the door and start trying to put on his shoes to leave. While we moved past that fairly quickly, the other day Dougle asked Canaan if he was "going to finish" something. He looked confused and pointed to the hall and said, "go?" In other instances, he picks up on words and uses them correctly, as well as in the wrong contexts. Such as with a favorite word, "new." He pronounces it correctly and throws it around in all contexts. He says it for "new diaper" or "new bowl," which are correct, but a lot of times he says it for other things that don't make sense to me, but apparently seem just fine to him: "new water," "new stairs," etc. I am sure we sound like this with some words in Russian that we throw around, thinking we understand what context it should be said in, but we really just sound like 20 month olds trying to acquire a new language.

Also in words, Canaan has started repeating a lot of things we say, especially the last words of our sentences if they are do-able for him. He doesn't say the "s" sound yet. New vocabulary include: go, new, catch (tatch), stinky (kee-kee- for stinky diaper!), don't touch (doe tuch), running (nu-neen), hopper (for grasshopper), rock (goo-wok), snap (boo-wap), roll (which he uses for any type of bread), and more. I have been meaning to write down all of them, so when I posted, I would remember what he is saying, but I keep forgetting to do that! My mom always told me that "the dullest pencil is sharper than the sharpest mind." I need to heed that advice better! As far as sentences, we are only getting two word phrases, so far. Such as, "truck, go?" for Where does the truck go?

Canaan is growing up more each day! He loves playing with his cars and trucks still. Everyday he sits around and runs them on the floor, up and down the furniture, etc. He is so cute and such a boy! Sometimes I'll look down on the floor and he has all his cars and trucks (and any other vehicle-airplanes, trains, etc.) all crammed close together like they are in a major traffic jam. At other times, he lines them all up in a long row, end to end, and pretends he is counting them. Actually, I am needed for this fun activity; he just points to each one, while I say the number. He has even started recognizing a few numbers from counting books we read, but he won't say any numbers. He just likes to hear me say them!