I have all kinds of lists of what Luke was doing at different ages. They're everywhere--in his baby book, jotted down in various notebooks and Word documents, and of course, here on this blog. I realize that Weston has been shortchanged, in part because I haven't had the time to write things down, but also, to be perfectly honest, because I don't have a terribly good idea of exactly what he can do.
That sounds bad. It's just that...I know very well how he plays with his brother. And with his brother's friends. But until this morning, I really had no idea how he played on his own. As it turns out, he does very well. In fact, not only does he do very well, but he knows things that I had no idea he knew. For example, he can match his color & shape puzzle up pretty well. And he seems to have some knowledge of color names. And he's really pretty good at expressing himself. He doesn't say as many words or make up as many sentences as Luke did at this age, but this kid has preferences. About EVERYTHING. And he will let you know about them, no problem. There's no distracting or re-directing him...when he decides that he's going to turn the light switch on and off fifty-nine times, then by god, that's what he's going to do and woe betide anyone who tries to stop him. (Most of the time, I do try to stop him and most of the time, I do succeed. And most of the time, I do sustain severe scratches and bruises as a result.)
He yells at people when they annoy him. At the park today, he yelled at and tried to attack a ten-year-old. A TEN-YEAR-OLD. Because the ten-year-old unintentionally WALKED IN WESTON'S PATH. Of course, since the other kid had the better part of a decade on Weston, he didn't even take notice of the little ball of fury that was hurtling after him, but stuff like this? Is why I'm not too keen on introducing him to other toddlers. Plus, he bites. And hits. And wrestles. And sits on people. Yeah, definitely not a good idea to unleash him on unsuspecting toddlers.
On the other hand, he is possibly the most affectionate toddler I have ever encountered. He spends his days showering us with hugs and kisses and still prefers to spend his nights cuddled up with another person. He hugs and kisses the cats every time they allow him close enough to do so. He tries to sit on Luke's lap every chance he gets. He makes a beeline for my friend and hugs and kisses and loves on her whenever we see her...and usually cries when we have to leave her. He is such a wonderful mixture of independent and loving and his toddlerhood has been quite the ride so far.
