Tonight while we were having dinner, I put two little pieces of carrots on Milo’s spoon and asked, “are you going to eat the carrots?” And he looked at them and said, “No, two carrots, no.” From this I glean that my child is a genius because he apparently counts and the ripe age of 19 months.
To be fair, this could be a fluke. BUT, we have been working on counting on our fingers a lot recently and talking about “how many” we have of things. When ever anyone says any number string, he starts putting up random assemblages of fingers and going “one two free two foo ahh nee soo” So we kind of lose track after three, but by god, the kid is trying.
The small sentences are wonderful and still kind of rare, but he is mastering putting together really fantastic two word combos. For instance, when Pat was driving Milo home from daycare today, Milo sat in the back seat yelling “Mommy Go Go!” to encourage Pat to get home faster. He says “Thank you” (which sounds like “ti ti”) whenever he shares something, and that is the odd part. He doesn’t necessarily say “thank you” when he receives something, but always when he gives something. We get lots of “peeeeasee” these days too when he would like something.
One of my favorite little quirks is that he likes to add “eeee” onto pretty much all words. Going to the doctor? Nope, going to to the doc-eee. We wash ourselves with soap-eee and then moisturize with looshee. We read lots of bookeees. He needs helpeee to take off his jack-eee (jacket). This tendency becomes really comical when coupled with words that already end is an “eeee” sound.
When things make him laugh, or make someone else laugh, Milo will let you know he enjoys it by saying “Thats FUNNY!”
I particularly love when he narrates a scene while he creates it. For example, he will find his baby doll and decide the “baby pooped.” And we need a new “diapeee.” Then he’ll run down the hall and by the time you catch up, he’ll have stripped the baby of its diaper and tossed the doll up on the changing table and be asking for “new diapee, clean clean.”
Yesterday I found him in his nursery staring at the wall and when I walked up to him he pointed to the wall and said “trees? He had just realized that there were trees on his bedroom wall and the trees had birdies and OH MY GOD we love birdees. It is weird when he suddenly finds the word for something that has always been there and discover it all over again.
When he sees things he likes, he calls them out and then asks for more. This is fine when the thing is an orange or Daddy doing something funny but it gets more complicated when a huge garbage truck drives by and then Milo stands there very innocently and intently requesting “more truck.” Yes son, excuse me while I go run after the garbage man and ask him to take a few labs by the house for our amusement. The ridiculous thing is that I would totally consider doing it.
Still, and I’m guessing for a while to come, the most common phrase from his mouth is “wasssat?” Good boy, Milo. Good boy.
He asks for kisses and head bonks (which is a loving gesture in our home), and cuddles. And when we ask him to ROOOAAARR, he does.

January 23, 2012 at 11:50 pm
I love this so much!! When I was in grad school I couldn’t really give half a crap about language development (because honestly it happens, the end) but I’m finding it to be one of the most unexpectedly fascinating parts of Kai’s development right now. He is repeating words like crazy (usually just the last syllable of the word–e.g. truck = Kuh) and while he doesn’t string more than one together, he sure does get his meaning across!! Kai also asks for more of things he loves, including the garbage truck and airplanes. Gee kid, if it were up to me the garbage truck would literally circle the block all day for our personal amusement, but sadly…..
Miss you guys!
January 25, 2012 at 12:30 pm
So cute!!! I think with kids the best thing to do is assume that they did the more exciting thing. It even starts in pregnancy. Was that gas? No just assume that it was baby’s first kicks! Is baby smiling or is it just gas? Just assume baby is smiling! (Weird how many of the fun baby things could be mistaken for gas.) Was Milo randomly saying two or was he counting the carrots? Definitely counting the carrots! My dad claims that by counting a lot with me and Christel when we were babies, he set us up to start teaching us algebra by the age of 6 or 7. Good job teaching your toddler math!
January 25, 2012 at 2:09 pm
We had a “more truck” incident here the other day too. Complete with a tantrum when I told him I couldn’t actually make the garbage truck come back. Sigh. I did, however, take him to watch some road construction down the street later in the afternoon. Mom win!