2.25 Years Old!

I had planned on switching from monthly to quarterly updates on Oliver, but I ended up writing one last month. Old habits die hard! I forgot to mention in that post that Oliver learned how to say his name before he turned 26 months old. He says it all the time. For example if he wants a toy that Ian is playing with he'll say "Oliver's turn." If I am about to feed him something he'll say "Oliver do it." The way he pronounces the words "do it" cracks me up. It sounds like "doot". His pronunciation of the word "please" is also amusing. For a long time he said "peas" as most children do at this age, but now in his attempt to say the "l" in the word, I think that most people wouldn't be able to understand that he's saying "please" as it sounds something like "piaz". For awhile he's done an outstanding job with saying "thank you." He always says the person's name (ex. "thank you, Mommy"), and he says thank you ALL day long. If I give him a compliment or a kiss or a hug, I get a "thank you, Mommy." Lately he has gotten much better at saying please without a reminder.

Almost all the time I understand what he's saying, and I think most of the time others would be able to understand him. When he asks for a drink, he also specifies which cup he wants. For example he'll say "Bob milk" meaning please use the Veggie Tale cup. He's finally started to use the word "water." Prior to this every drink was "milk." He has an excellent memory of which things belong to which member of the family. As I am taking clothes out of the dryer he gives a running commentary ("Nadia's shirt, Ian's pants, Daddy's socks, etc.), and 99% of the time he's correct! He calls underwear "wear," and when it comes to his underwear he always uses an adjective to describe it (ex. "Mickey wear" meaning the underwear that has Mickey Mouse on it). Occasionally I find myself saying words in the way he says them because I hear it that way so often (ex, "Nana" for Nadia). He also uses the sound to identify some nouns (says "choo choo" instead of train, says "quack quack" instead of duck, and says "roar" for several nouns including dinosaur and lion).

He's getting better with his colors, but sometimes he still identifies them incorrectly. The color words he says the most often are blue, red, green, and purple. He makes an attempt to count, but it usually goes something like "one, two, three, six, nine"). He attempts to identify some letters of the alphabet, and sometimes he is correct although maybe it's just coincidence. For awhile he has prayed at the dinner table by repeating after me, but now he will pray a short prayer all on his own. He refers to praying by the word "amen." If he wants there to be a second prayer before a meal he will say "amen again." "Again" and "heavy" are two of his MOST favorite words. He's getting better at doing 12 piece jigsaw puzzles, and that's one instance where he'll say again (after he's completed the puzzle). His favorite adjective to use to describe himself is "funny" (rather than smart, cute, handsome, etc.).