Nineteen months

My sweet baby is gone, replaced by a 33 pound toddler with lots of opinions. I like both versions, but the baby was significantly easier to entertain. He never yelled "NO!!!!" at me loud enough to shatter eardrums. But he also never made up a song for me with the lyrics, "Mommy, doo doo doo / Mommy, doo doo doo." I assume this is a version of baby shark? He sings it all the time. I'd say it's an even trade: you get attitude, but with it comes cuteness.  

He is now absolutely obsessed with a black and white stuffed dog he calls "Bupert." (I named him Rupert, but "r" sounds are difficult.) When Jonah is at home, Bupert is always with him. Thankfully, Jonah accepted my story that Bupert stays up at night to keep watch over him and so needs to rest during the day, which is why he can't go to daycare. Before we leave the house in the morning, we put Bupert to bed in the crib and say good night to him. 

The intense preference for Bupert started a few months ago, and after repeated washings he started to look much worse for wear. My mother-in-law, who originally gifted us Rupert, came through in a major way and sent us three extra Buperts! All in pristine condition, soon to be slobbered on and cuddled to death. Best gift ever. Jonah did find my stash of extra Buperts, though, and was somewhat traumatized by the experience. 

Bupert saw us through a case of hand foot mouth disease last month, a highly unpleasant experience. We also went through roseola in May and covid in June. Covid was nothing for Jonah but I got it and did a lot of coughing. (I actually have no confirmation that Jonah got covid, just that Josh and I did.) Roseola and HFM were exponentially worse than covid. I think the diseases with mysterious rashes are the worst. Is it really not possible to create a HFM vaccine? I would pay good money for that. 

Jonah has gotten very good at imitating words now, which is leading to some problems, since I have a bad habit of cursing. Hearing a toddler say "shit" in their cute little toddler voice is...jarring. The one thing he refuses to imitate is the word "cup." He insists on calling all cups "books." It's very strange, since he knows that books are books. My theory is that the words "bottle" and "cup" got smashed together in his brain somehow? But when I correct him he looks at me like I'm nuts, holds his cup in the air and says, "No, mama, is book." Ok then. 

He's good at his body parts: nose, hands, arms, feet, ears, eyes, tongue, hair. I changed in front of him recently and he learned about a new body part, boobs. This is what happens when you don't breastfeed! Now he walks around saying "boobies" all the time. I'm just waiting for the daycare teachers to mention it. 

His other favorite things to talk about are vehicles — bike, boat, car, truck — and animals — horse, fish, bear, rabbit, elephant. He says "moo" for cow, and "baaa" for sheep. He doesn't say "dog," which is surprising, since we have a dog. He is obsessed with the dog and follows her around the house, but he only calls her "sister." This has led to some understandable confusion. He has a dog who is his sister but not all dogs are sisters? And not all sisters are dogs? Learning about the world is a big project.