Toby is now 18 months old. My baby isn’t much of a baby any more! He is turning into a very independent little boy. He is quite happy to explore both new and familiar places on his own, and he knows what he wants with enough words to make his wishes understood most of the time. He stands up to Nathan now when Nathan wants to take what Toby has, and certainly makes his wants known with a combination of words, pointing and crying (when we don’t understand or he doesn’t get his way).

Toby has many more words at 18 months old than I imagined he would a few months ago. I did a word list for Nathan when he was 18 months old, and I decided to do the same for Toby. The words are those he uses spontaneously and not those he tries to copy when someone else is talking. The problem is that every day he comes out with more words, and I never remember them all. I would say that Toby’s list isn’t as comprehensive as Nathan’s was. Toby is also putting words together into two and three word sentences.

Colours and number recognition are also coming along. When we count from one to ten, Toby says the first two numbers, and if we stop at the number nine then he will finish with an excited “TEN”!

Elimination communication is going really well now. Although Toby has been doing poos on the potty for quite a while now, catching his wee in the potty has been more difficult. The last few weeks has seen what seems to be a huge breakthrough in that he is more often dry than wet now. He is able to sit on the potty by himself if he has a bare bottom, and will occasionally on his own initiative for wees and more often if we suggest that he sit on the potty. He is able to answer us when we ask if he needs the toilet, and even tells us that he needs it sometimes. We still get quite a few wet training pants during the day, a few wet nappies at night though he is generally dry, but we definitely catch more wee than we miss and some days he is completely dry.

Toby loves playing with the animal figurines, loves books though he still doesn’t have the attention span to sit through an entire picture book (generally), loves playing with the saucepans and kitchen utensils, and is desperate to ride the balance bike. He is an absolute delight to be around.

Word map made using www.wordle.net/ (cc license with reference)