A year and a half and then some!

Oh my! It can't be so... our munchkin can't possibly already be over a year and a half old! It's so surreal to me that in just five short months he'll be two years old... on the other hand, at times I feel like I can't even recall what life was like before him... he has brought so much meaning and light to our lives. He's such an exceptional little boy and surprises us with new tricks and feats every single day. Family life is the greatest blessing of all, by far.

Beni now has 11 teeth, with the 12th quickly approaching (stubborn final first year molar)... he is approximately 26lbs and 2ft 8" (or 32") currently, which is at the 66th percentile for weight and 44th percentile for height! Not too shabby for a pipsqueak (affectionately stated!) born at 17.5" and 6lbs. :)

Vocally, things have shifted a bit in the last couple of months. While he does use at LEAST 10 consistent words on a daily basis, he largely relies sign language or furious pointing to get his point across. The thing is, we know he's aware of the appropriate words as he uses them intermittently, but it seems like there's less reliance on them when it's just much quicker and easier to point and grunt. What tends to ease my concern a bit is that he still constantly reminds us that he does indeed understand everything we're saying... sometimes even much to our dismay, like when I give Daddy the heads up that we need to brush Beni's teeth, Beni will book it 100mph in the opposite direction to escape this dreaded chore. Even more complex statements, for example, like asking Daddy if I should just throw something into the oven real quick, Beni will sign the word "eat". He seems to be really good with comprehending verbal context.

He signs, "milk" (for "nursie"), "eat", "drink", "more", "all done", "gentle", "book", "boat"... I'm pretty sure his range of signing is a little broader, but those are the ones he gets the most use out of it seems...

Words/phrases used most frequently these days: Mama, Dada, Grandpa (or Papa), hi, bye-bye, nursie, banana, cheese, water, more, up, down, hot, bottle, hat, shoe, glasses, ball, balloon, car, truck, tractor, boat, choo-choo train, door, outside, moon, diapy, "pee-pee" & "poo-poo", "I did it", "That one", "This one", "Right there", "Thank you", "I love you", "One, two..." A, B, C, E, M, O... and of course just about every animal sound on the face of this planet! He generally calls an animal by its sound, a dog is a "woof woof", and a duck is "quack quack", cats, monkeys, lions, owls, bears, alligators, sheep, chickens, frogs... you name it, it's always the sound it makes rather than the actual animal name. Nevertheless, this is one of the many things I love about him. :)

Naps are few and far this month, it seems he will resist at all odds his dreaded afternoon nap... his stall tactics consist of bringing multiple books to Mommy to read (he thinks surely I can't resist something instructive!!), playing hide-and -go-seek, food/drink requests (after he just ate...), asking to use the potty (after he just went...), etc.

Speaking of the potty... a very new and important update is that Beni is now officially in the POTTY TRAINING stage! Oddly enough, this is something he initiated entirely on his own after weeks of telling us when he did his business in his diaper and trying to change it all by himself. (Quite a sight, by the way.) We finally decided to invest in a potty last Wednesday to "test the waters" so to say... much to our surprise he's doing exceptionally well! He uses it when he wakes up in the morning, and once or twice in the afternoon... we sometimes have to remind him by asking "Do you want to go potty?" and he'll generally pretty eagerly stop what he's doing and walk to the bathroom. I think from his standpoint it must be pretty exciting to finally be using the potty like Mommy and Daddy, I just hope he holds onto that enthusiasm a few weeks/months from now...

We all went to Puerto Rico for Daddy's and my Five Year Anniversary... it was my first visit to the island and naturally Beni's also. Sadly, it turned out to be a bit of a bust because Daddy Angelo became very ill on our third day in Puerto Rico, and Beni the following day with a 104 degree fever and horrible, unrelenting vomiting, chills and lethargy that had us in such a panic that we admitted both of them to the hospital on our actual anniversary. :( All that aside, we did manage to enjoy our first two days there. The beaches in Puerto Rico are just gorgeous beyond my means of explaining, mountains and tropical trees, pristine aqua water... beautiful! Beni LOVED driving up and down the mountains and would swings his hands up in the air as if he was riding a rollercoaster, laughing like a loon! I believe we caught that on film, actually! :) On our last day, we did manage to check out Fort San Felipe del Morro "El Morro", which was an awesome experience, but we ended up leaving after maybe a half an hour because we just were not feeling up to being out, and by that point even I started feeling a little "off".

It was during that trip that we discovered Beni's unrelenting love of the ocean! We have gone to the beach once since returning home (on my birthday actually) and Beni had a BLAST splashing in the waves and picking up seashells for Daddy. Now that Summer is quickly approaching I see us going much more frequently now that he's older. (As opposed to last Summer where he was still just my itty, bitty bundle of love.)

Some of his latest endearing quirks include:
Blowing on his food when it's too warm, while saying, "Hot! Hot!".

His recent obsession with locating hats in books, or if the word comes up randomly in conversation, he'll say "Hat! Hat!" while furiously pointing to his head. (Other items he loves locating in books include balls, balloons and trains and other vehicles...)

When I ask him, "Where's my favorite baby?", he very proudly points to himself. When I ask him "Where's YOUR favorite baby?" he points to me! What's amusing to me is that he fully understands what a baby is, as he tells us constantly when he spots them in books or in public... but apparently, in his mind, I am a baby, too!

I may have mentioned this in his 17 month update, but he still bows and claps fanatically when we praise him for doing something well. Sometimes he'll add a little wiggle-dance to the mix, which makes Mommy and Daddy laugh our butts off. Grandpa, too!

Sometimes when he tells us he has peed, he'll give his diaper a quick grope and pat for added emphasis. I want so badly to catch this on camera because to me it looks so Michael Jackson-esque! I would also love to capture his one-manned diaper changing move that, while never quite being as successful as he'd like, is nevertheless HILARIOUS to witness.

He is growing up fast and becoming more and more a little man with each passing day. We couldn't be more proud of him.