What I can do at 20.5 months of age

At 20.5 months of age I want to share with you some of the things I am able to do ...

• send e-mail (well almost, mama is just joking of course), but I can count 2 and 5
• put together puzzle cubes
• request food ... say 'cheese' and take my mama's hand and lead her to the refrigerator door, so she can get me that cheese
• talk a lot on my very own toy cell-phone (develops my social skills immensely)
• slide down the slide - all by myself at the park
• dog paddle with mama's help in a big 3' deep pool (I love to jump off the edge into mama's arms)
• drink milk out of an ordinary tumbler all by myself
• help unload the dishwasher
• take the non-breakables to the cupboard (although some days I get completely side-tracked and leave them lying around on the floor)
• drag a dining chair up to the sink and cry (it's my way of saying I want to stand up on the chair and help)
• chew crayons (sometimes I scribble a bit)
• suck on playdoh (when I've finished playing with it and rolling it with a rolling pin)
• kick a ball
• throw a ball (backwards over my head)
• spin round and round and round and round (then fall down)
• run backwards
• sing a tune
• run and bounce up and down on a big bed
• cry when things don't go my way (but I soon get over it!)

Is there anyone else out there just like me?

Lush garden growth ... 8 weeks from planting

Potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli and onions are doing well ... lebanese cucumbers - slow... beans, carrots, peas, pumpkins (grown from seed) also seem slow; green peppers are a fizzer.

Keeping Cool

We have had 8 days of intense heat and humidity in the province of Quebec, with little end in sight.  Master J and I are sleeping in the basement at night where it is a cool 22 degrees celsius.  Our dining, living and sleeping quarters upstairs hover around 30 degrees celsius at night and during the day.

Thankfully the heat is not bothering this active 20 month old (seen above in a make-do paddling pool, rescued from a neighbour's front yard before the dumpster truck came along).

We are presently focussing some of our indoor activities on puzzles with shapes and colours.  I can recommend the 'Melissa and Doug' Beginner Pattern Block with 5 reversible puzzles in a box (recommended for Ages 2+).  Master J can master many of these on his own.  He loves being encouraged with handclapping, a pat on the back, high 5 and the words 'Bravo' when he completes a puzzle.

Today, while shopping for much needed shorts at Old Navy we stopped by ToysRUs on the way back to the car.  It's a long story .... but we came away with a FREE "Playskool" cubo de formas/form fitter (puzzle pieces that match shapes and textures into a cube).  I had been charged incorrectly and as I had gone back to customer services to tell them they promptly refunded my purchase in FULL and allowed me to keep the item!  Thank you ToysRUs.

As soon as we were home Master J began putting the shapes into the cube.  He has not mastered them all yet, but seems to enjoy this activity for short periods of time (with lots of encouragement).

My Parenting Tip:   Be an encourager to your children.

Take time to watch them play, and look for activities that they are good at and enjoy and really encourage them to persevere and succeed.