Yuri is 20!

Aaah, Yuri is 20 months old today! He still weighs 10.2 kilograms or 22 pounds, and he's 82 centimeters or more than 32 inches long or 2.7 feet. He sleeps on an average of 13 hours a day and eats close to nothing. Joke! (Okay, so I'm only half-joking.)

From our mini-photoshoot 2 weeks ago

This means it has been 20 months of motherhood for me (not counting the 9 ~~hellish~~ months of pregnancy). Wow, 20! Considering that I only lasted one month and two months in my first two jobs, respectively, this says a lot! I can't entirely welcome this new milestone with relief knowing that certain tasks are imminent. Yes, potty-training, I'm looking at you!

But, hey, let's cross the bridge when we get there. Right now, I feel so happy looking at my free-spirited little boy who gets more independent everyday. Honestly, the last month has been my favorite. I love seeing Yuri interacting with us more and more!

Mini-lessons in the grocery (see post here)

Finally (finally!), Yuri has learned to call me mama! Consistently! Yay! After months of calling me dede, I finally have get proper endearment haha!

Yuri also knows his name na! Here's one of my (our) favorite activities at home:

Me (pointing to his lolo): Sino yan?
Yuri: Yayu!
Me (pointing to his lola): Sino yan?
Yuri: Iya!
Me (pointing to his tita): Sino yan?
Yuri: Dinda!
Me (pointing to myself): Eh sino ako?
Yuri: Mama!
Me (pointing to Yuri): Eh ikaw, sino ka?
Yuri (smiling proudly with both hands pointed to himself): SURI!

Oh diba, Suri Cruise ang peg. Sige na nga! Okay na yun! :D

This is the best I could do to capture his "SURI" motions! Mad photographer skillzzz!

As always, there are a lot of new additions to his words. Verbal diarrhea kung verbal diarrhea. Currently, he has more or less 100 words na, which, I think, is quite a lot for a boy. (He had 60+ words as of last month.) I attribute that to the talkative (read: noisy) people he's surrounded by. I'm not even kidding! We only shut up when Yuri has to have his shut-eye hahaha. This month, here are his new words:

Food
Chocolate - tetetete
Apple - apu
Milk - mam
Skyflakes - asfe
Tiger Biscuits - ayde

Animals
Elephant - fant
Crocodile - tatatata
Mouse - maw
Mice - mis (Nalito na si Yuri because I teach him "mouse" while his yaya teaches him "mice")
Horse - hos
Fish - sis
Ant - ans (Matagal na to, nakalimutan ko lang i-lista)
Bee - bee
Rabbit - sassy (Long story, which begins with how my sister has a ratty old stuffed rabbit named Sassy.)
Owl - ow
Bird - Dati ti ito, naging toytoy!
Da - duck

You might not see it clearly (Dinda also has mad photographer skilzzz), but Yuri had
just discovered his reflection on his spoon!

People/Body Parts
Person - tayo (tao)
Bata - bata
Penis (sorry!) - tintin
Nose - mow
Mama - Mama!
Yuri - Suri
Shadow - Siyow

Things
Bike - bayi
Air - angi
Water - toyi
Motorcycle - ator
Chair - teyr
Star - stow
Train - teyn / toto (After Thomas)
Tissue - ah-shus (favorite word!)
Lights - ays
Book - book
Ball - ball
Powder - bubos
Table - eybol
Toys - toys
Mas - Christmas tree, decors, etc.
Toothbrush - sheshe

Numbers
One - wam
(He first learned how to say "two" last month.)
Three - tuwi
Four - fo
Six - sis
Nine - nay
(Of course, he doesn't understand the concept of numbers yet.)
*Square - ser
*Circle - si

Random Expressions
Cute - toot! (with feelings)
Sleep - tuyog
Get - kuwin
Bye - buh-bye!
Cold - yamig!
Bad - baw?
Gentle - enten
Promise - asi
Broken - siya
Itchy - ati
Play - pey
Lowbat (as in the camera) - oba

Pretending to be asleep...

Not!

....................................................................................

Aside from learning new words, he has also improved his pronunciation. For example, last month, he says "so" for song. Now, it sounds like "song" na. Good job, little boy! Of course, I have to commend his yaya for always teaching him, too!

Speaking of teaching, Yuri has learned how to finish songs din. Here are the songs he can finish:

Me: Happy birthday...
Yuri: To you!

Me: Twinkle, twinkle little...
Yuri: Star!

Me: How much is that doggy in the window?
Yuri: Aw aw!

Me: Ten little Indian...
Yuri: Bee! (He can't pronounce "boys" yet!)

Me: Old McDonald had a farm...
Yuri: Iya yayo!

Who says cars can only run horizontally?

He can also respond to very basic questions, too. One example is asking him his name (see above). Here are the other simple questions he can answer:

Question: How old are you?
Yuri (holding up one finger): Wam! (His answer used to be two, then three. Now we finally have it right!)

Question: What does the dog say?
Yuri: Aw aw!

Question: What does the car say?
Yuri: Bee bee!

Question: What does the duck say?
Yuri: Wak wak!

Question: What does the motor(cycle) say?
Yuri: Brroom! Brrooom!

Getting more of a Curious George around here

If you ask me if I'm proud of Yuri, of course I am!!! Oh, three exclamation points yan ha. But I don't compare him to other kids. Never did and never will as I stand firm to my belief that raising a child is not a competition. However, nothing can stop me from proclaiming what Yuri can already do! If I had no qualms blogging about his being a late walker, what stops me from blogging about his good points?

He also does very masculine stuff, such as blowing kisses, pouting, and batting eyelashes. :-P

Yes, Yuri. This is the life. :-)

PS: I know these monthly update posts are too self-centered and self-praising, but you're probably not a mom if you can say that. I appreciate reading these kinds of posts from other mommies. Also, I can't be doing this for the rest of my life! Imagine me writing a post saying "Yuri is 500 months old today!"