20 down, 4 to go.

Well, here we are again - 11 days late on poor Tyler's monthly  update!  Sorry, kiddo.  I'd love to blame it on the visit from Aunt Amy and Adam but they didn't come until the 10th - 4 days after Tyler turned 20 months.  Now I gotta try to remember what he was doing last month, not last week.  Oops.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but he is such a wanderer!  All over the park, usually away from me, away from the other little kids.  He likes other kids but doesn't tend to interact much and can wander away just as much as he can wander with them.

He is starting to listen to directions but still doesn't do a lot of what you ask him to do.  He'll stop from going into the street when you say no, or get down from the tv, but when you say "look at me" or "come over here" he is good at ignoring you.  Just like a man.  :-)

He knows where his hair, head, eyes, eyelashes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, arms, fingers, belly, belly button, feet, and toes are.  He knows where most of those are on me too but has a special affinity for my eyelashes and hair.  But that's been going on for a while.  He also knows where his shirt his, his shoes, and socks.  Pants and legs are apparently not real important to him right now.

He'll give you high fives, fist bumps, and blow you kisses.

He loves to play boom boom.! He'll squeeze his hands at you and say boom boom so that you will do that to him. But if I tell him to go do it to someone he will- he'll even try to tickle them. Ha ha.

Like most little brothers, he wants to do whatever Kayla and her friends are doing, be wherever they are.  Poor Tyler gets left out and Kayla gets annoyed.  They can be good together but they are definitely brother and sister and all that that entails.

He's finally pretty solidly into the 18 month clothes.  The 12 month shirts are hard to get off sometimes, and the pants are definitely too short.  He's coming along - slowly.

Usually he says the opposite of what he means.  Says no before yes, down when he means up... guess that's about all the opposites but he says them all day long!

He goes to naps and bedtime on his own now - no more patting him until he falls asleep.  He still falls asleep on the way home (around 12:30pm) but he transfers well and if we're home when it's nap time he can fall asleep on his own.  I give him a car now in his crib so that keeps him entertained till he falls asleep.

I forgot to say this last month, but at about 18 months and 1 week he stopped nursing.  He stopped evenings, then didn't ask for it after nap one day, so the next morning I just stopped offering it.  Instead he eats cereal in the morning and we watch a show together in the afternoon so he still gets food/comfort.  18 months was a long time but stopping it was relatively painless for both of us.  He had his moments and some crying but it didn't last long.

He doesn't like food on his fingers. He gets too much sauce or syrup on them and he holds it in the air rolling it around till I wipe it off.

Along the same lines- he wants to eat whatever anyone else is eating. I'm pretty sure I haven't finished my own snack/meal in months!

I'm teaching him to say I love you and it comes out as I, ov, oh (like last half of you).  And he only says each word as I say it.  But he does it every time.  And it's super cute to watch because he sticks his lips out when he says "oh" at the end.

Likes his feet massaged! Who knew???

He will repeat a lot but he doesn't say much on his own.  He says 'ep' for help and if I don't hear him or do it right away he comes over to me, gets right in my face if we're at eye level, and says "mom, es, ep" which means, mom, this, help, complete with pointing or pulling me to where he wants me.  Its really cute.

Pretty much most of what he does is cute.  He cries when there's a problem but I usually don't know what it is and he can't tell me so that's annoying but the rest of the time when he plays with his cars all day or laughs because I'm tickling him is really stinking cute.

He is pretty good about taking turns - like when we're throwing them on the couch, or making funny sounds to each of them, or putting them on our shoulders- he even encourages us to take turns by pointing to Kayla after he's had his turn.

I guess that's about it for now.  He is understanding more and more every day and I have to remember to give him credit for things.  Since he doesn't talk I tend to think of him as younger than he is, but he's a smart kid and I have to remind myself of that sometimes... he reminds me too.  :-)