'Where's Benjy' and other favourites

So, what is Benjy up to? At the moment - next week (at the time of writing) he will be 20 months - he is just grasping words that are more than one syllable. Up until now he has managed, quite impressively, at making longer words monosyllabic ('plar' = caterpillar, and also umbrella and propellar; 'mint' = minute, 'stup' = stand up). Now, out of nowhere, we hear 'bagel', 'money', 'morning', 'welly' and many others, more every day. It sounds strange - I suddenly hear a properly pronounced word and look around me, wondering where it came from. Although, it does take a long time to say a word of more than two syllables - the first one is very drawn out as he seems to prepare himself for the next! And being more confident with words, he is also more confident in playing with them. 'No' can be a very forceful 'no', a mocking 'no', a definitive 'nope', a jokey, high-pitched 'no', or an elongated, don't-be-silly-Mummy, 'noooooo'.

Pretend play is still a joy to watch, and shows so much about the associations he makes as he goes about his day. He asks for one of his teddies to be put in his cot, his giraffe for example - then lays it down, hands it his dummy, puts his cot music on and says 'sshhhhh' - the giraffe is now asleep. Recently, this pretend sleeping - both Benjy's and his toys - is followed a few seconds later by an emphatic 'awake!', and a jump up to sitting or standing. And he's caring as ever - storytime for Benjy has always been on our knees, so now storytime involves him on our knees, and Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Benji Bear on his.

'Where's Benjy' seems to have been a firm favourite for so long now that I'm surprised I hadn't mentioned it in my last blog posting. Some photos are attached. He gets very involved - we can ask, out loud, if he's in the kitchen, say, and he'll respond with a quick 'no'. We can even get him to go and check. Hiding in the wardrobe is a favourite spot, as is hiding behind his hands pretty much anywhere.

Interesting too to see how he copies what we do. When he can't find something, it'll be two hands out, palms raised, and a quizzical 'gone', and then he'll look around, determined to find the missing object, but really only looking within a 10cm diameter of his feet. Very cute to see him walking round in circles looking for something while really only looking at his feet. And we realise how regularly we must make mock excitement sounds - intake of breath and astonished gasp - as he'll pick up a toy and do the exact same thing, as if to say, 'wow, look what I found!', for even the most mundane thing. Not sure I can really explain this well - perhaps that's one that needs to be witnessed rather than explained.