A Walkin’, Talkin’, Toddlin’ Man

Time to indulge in a little motherly bragging! Rowan is at such a cute age and is just so stinkin' cut, I can hardly stand it!!!! Ha! So, be prepared readers, this is all about our little Row Row and how fantastic we think he is.

Rowan is just the epitome of a toddler right now. He teeters and totters as he walks around. He is becoming more independent – won't even hold my finger while he's walking unless he really feels like he needs some help! And I just want to hold fingers while walking side by side, instead of holding hands!!!! He's into everything, doing everything, opinionated about everything and now is my chance to get all these little things recorded J

• He is still a shameless flirt. He looks up at people with his chin on his shoulder, pretending to be shy, batting his eyes and smiling. Sometimes, he'll give a little wave. Once at Starbucks, he was in his stroller facing me and a woman behind me. He was flirting with her the whole time. I had no clue until Jess had pointed out what a flirt he was. The lady was loving the attention and giving it right back to him. He makes friends at the kids' schools while we are waiting for them to be released. He has quite the fan club at Rachel's school with a few of the moms. He just stares at them until they make over him, tickle him, etc. They love it too. At Russell's school, he's always making a new friend, the latest of which is a grandpa that loves to watch Row play in the dirt with Rachel. Rowan will look over his shoulder to make sure he's still watching.
  
• Rowan is a great at mimicking. He loves to applaud when everyone else is or when he hears clapping. He always rubs his hands together when he sees me hand sanitizing (which has been a lot lately!!). He likes to help clean and takes a wipe to clean the high chair, the floor, the window, whatever anyone happens to be wiping clean at the time. He really tries to copy the kids when they do something that strikes his fancy.
  
• He was watching the kids gargle and I was making a big deal out of them gargling, not the great skill, the great use of gargling to delay whatever they need to do next. Yea, so Rowan now gargles and is so pleased with himself!
  
• He HATES having his face cleaned.
  
• Right now he is shaking his head no at requests, questions, etc. And when he is on a roll, he shakes no at funny questions like: Do you want a cookie? Is Dad ugly? Is mom your favorite?
  
• He won't say the word no. Like last night he wanted bananas and we tried to give him something else. He just shook his head no and said "Dat un" and pointed at the bananas.
  
• He does this finger taste test when unsure about what he is eating. He just puts in his finger tip and puts it in his mouth for the taste test. If it agrees with him, he digs in. Or he shakes his head no and proceeds to dump it on the floor. We are working on the latter.
  
• Of the 3 kids, he is the one that really likes to take stuff out and put it back in. He can spend an hour or more walking around the house taking things out and putting them back in. Now, this could be the laundry, kitchen towels, toys, bathroom drawer items, books, chalk from the art easel; literally anything. And when he puts it back, it doesn't mean that he puts it away, it means he puts it back someplace else or scatters it everywhere. He likes to put stuff back in the garbage can (his sippy cup), the toilet (toys & bink), and into various drawers and baskets. He takes stuff out of the garbage too – food, papers, whatever strikes his fancy. Now, when he puts in things of importance (his sippy cup) in the garbage and tries to get it back, but can't, he has a humongous fit.
  
• We'll touch on the fits… they are starting, so I am sure the 2s will be something else with him. He is really opinionated when it means something to him and persistent. For the most part he is happy to be out and about and doesn't have the public fits (yet), but at home he can get pretty pissy.
  
• He does what I call the gimme hands. When he wants something or you, he puts up his arms and his hands open and shut over and over and over. It is pretty darn cute. Sometimes he talks with the gimme hands, but usually just gestures.
  
• He loves to climb the stairs. When he gets half way up (and sometimes sooner) he does his "Ta Da!" which means he says it and throws his arms up in the air. He's genuinely thrilled with himself. Sometimes he wants to play on the stairs, which we aren't fans of that. So, I take his bink and throw it up some stairs and he chases after it. Then I take it again and throw it up the other half of the stairs to get him moving.
  
• He really likes the Wall E movie and he loves to say "Eva" just like Wall E.
  
• He is a snuggler at bed time. He doesn't go down unless he gets some snug time in at night. Not important for naps, but at nighttime it is a necessity. He can just sit in my lap and lean back and fall asleep and the head on the shoulder kind of snugglin' works too. I really love those snuggles.
  
• He makes these sounds that are hard to describe, but it is such a baby sound. It is a slobbery Geeee and Geh. Almost like a gargle, but not quite. He makes the sound mostly when he is playing with Adam and is really into it. It is a very sweet and happy sound.
  
• He loves to play outside in the sand box and he loves when we play with bubbles. His reflexes aren't fast enough to pop the bubbles, but he tries and squeals with delight. He gets a big kick out of watching Rachel pop bubbles.
  
• He is fascinated with the computer, typing on the keyboard, pushing the power button, taking the paper out of the printer and pressing its buttons.
  
• Rowan plays phone with anything. It can be his play phones, our phones or the remote controls to the TVs or the fans. He puts it up to his ear (kind of) and walks around and talks. It sounds kind like hello and then all baby jargon after. It is so cute. He really thinks he is getting away with something when he is using a real phone.
  
• He can open doors!! We have those lever handles on our doors here, so he gets into every room. He gets such great pleasure of opening the doors to get to Russ & Rach either while they are sleeping or using the bathroom. Russ plays with him with the door, so that doesn't help Rachel when she wants her privacy!! He gets into the pantry and will get out anything he can reach. Then he gives it to you and wants you to open it. One of these days I will open the tuna pouch and let him taste it. Little boogar will probably love it.
  
• He knows that there are other ways to open doors. For example the door at gymnastics – he knows you have to push the lever to open the door. He gets on his tippy toes and touches the lever, like he's going to do it himself. Then he will point to it and insist that I open it for him.
  
• This one is sweet – when he gives me a kiss, I say "ooooooooh, thank you" So now when he kisses me he immediately says "Oooooooooooooh" sometimes I get a thank you, but usually I have to thank him.
  
• He doesn't like to be told no and can get a little mad.
  
• He is also starting to get possessive of Adam & me. If Adam is playing with Russ or Rach, he has to be involved. Or if I am reading to either one, again, he has to get involved.
  
• Still working on some teeth. He has the 2 bottom teeth and one top tooth almost in and I think he is cutting (or getting ready to cut) 3 more on top and 2 more on the bottom.
  
• Words he is saying regularly and what they sound like:
  

  Hi Dad – Hi Da
  

  Thank You – Ank UUUUUUUUU (he says this one the 2^nd most!)
  

  This – Dis
  

  I Love You – uv U
  

  Mama – mmmmmmmmama
  

  Dada – dadadadadadda
  

  Russell – Ussel
  

  Rachel – Uchel
  

  That one – Dat Un (this is his most used phrase. It took us a while to figure out what he was saying!!!)
  

  Eva – Eva
  

  Wow- wow
  

  Whoa – Whoa
  

  Uh oh- Uh oh
  

  I am sure there are more, but I can't remember them right now, doh!