Joey

I'm not quite as diligent at posting updates about Joey as I was about Melanie.  Joey is nearly 22 months old, and doing great!  He has nearly all of his teeth, is wearing 18 month clothes, still loves sucking his left thumb, and is in a HITTING stage.  Ugh.  He is also VERY loveable, giving hugs and kisses whenever asked (or when he's in trouble).  He even kisses pictures or inanimate objects.  One evening, he asked for his potty repeatedly, so I got it out of the closet (I haven't even been talking about it).  He went "#1," and then I put him in the bathtub.  He repeatedly asked for it, but I thought he was just distracted.  He then climbed out of the tub to, ah "finish his business."  I was pretty impressed.  Since then (and one subsequent #2), his interest is more theoretical than productive.

Joey does a great job following directions (when he wants to), but doesn't talk nearly as much as Melanie did at his age.  Therefore, I got him assessed by First Steps for language development.  It was an interesting meeting, as they bring out a developmental therapist and a speech therapist, and it's like a little playdate.  They asked me a lot of questions while they just observed him playing.  He didn't say one word while they were there, but they determined he doesn't need the speech therapy at this point.  He has more than 20 words, and based on the responsiveness he has to language, his progress lately, and how much he mimics Melanie, they think he'll just be a "late talker" (I was too, believe it or not).  If, in about three months, I feel he's not advancing, they asked me to call them back. 

One thing that the therapists thought was hilarious was Joey's love of cotton balls.  He always has a cotton ball on him (he holds it in his hand while he sucks his thumb).  During our meeting, he grabbed my hand and dragged me to my bathroom, where I had to deliver a cotton ball.  He would then put it in and out of his pocket depending on whether he needed his hands for his activities.  Crazy kid.

He's obsessed with "Dora."  Every time he sees a TV, he wants it to be turned to Dora.  Melanie has at least two books that have Dora songs, and those are his favorite books to "read," he can stay occupied for a long time with those (it's what he's playing with above).  I was too slow to turn on the show yesterday, and he brought me the remote control and yelled "DORE!!!"  He even figured out how to flip it there himself once last night (it was a fluke, but one I'm scared of!)