Well-Travelled Toddler

Two days ago, the Sancheti clan returned from Washington, D.C. Shaan and I tagged along for daddy's work conference since the accomodations/travel costs were reimbursed through Manu's employer (basically a free trip for mommy and baby). On the way back from D.C., it occurred to me that Shaan is a bit rotten. He's only 15 months old and he has already been to the following states: New York (obviously), Alabama (obviously), Georgia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Delaware, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maryland, and North Carolina. So, he's been to 11 states and the nation's capitol already. In addition, he's been to four different beaches: Gulf Shores (Alabama), Destin (Florida), Avalon (New Jersey), and Jones Beach (Long Island, NY). Plus, we're planning a trip to Park City, Utah over the holidays, so he'll get to add state number 12 to his destination list before long....R...O...T...T...E...N!!! :)

In all honesty, though, he has turned into a fabulous traveller. The first, oh, 4 or 5 times we flew were miserable (screaming baby and several incidents such as the following: a stewardess taking him out of my lap and carrying him up and down the aisles to try and calm him down (NOTE: did not work), me kicking a non-English speaking man out of his seat (via non-verbal cues...quite fun!!!) in the back of the plane so I could try nursing Shaan in privacy to calm him down (NOTE: also did not work)).

Now that the little man been on 12 plane rides, though - he's got it down! He even knows how to say airplane and will "mimic" an airplane by putting his arms out to the side and spinning around. I think he actually enjoys travelling now - he's a big people watcher and fascinated by new sights/experiences. He's also a great car traveller as well - we recently made a 6 hour trip to Gulf Shores and a 4 hour trip to D.C., and he was a champ. Now, on all of these travelling experiences, I am still entertaining 24/7 (reading books, pulling out various toys, singing, feeding him, etc.), but he does sit quietly and play now, as opposed to screaming/crying. So, I count that as a well-travelled toddler. :)

A few other updates - we just had our 15 month checkup - we're in the 75th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for weight. So, while we're still a big boy, the baby fat has finally started to come off a bit (no longer are we in the 90's for weight).

New words/phrases that we have added to our vocabulary in the last few weeks: alligator, caterpillar, Alabama (woohoo! Roll Tide!), juice, spider, beach, capitol, pumpkin, black cat, bandaid, happened (for "what happened?"), go away, alright, okay, and high five.

Additionally, he imitates EVERYTHING! He will try to say anything we say. For instance, he's been sick the last few days with some sort of stomach bug and Manu was telling me that it was really important to keep him hydrated and the next thing I know Shaan is saying "hydrated." When we were in Alabama my mom said something about an accident waiting to happen and he said "accident." Now, he doesn't know what those two words mean (all of the above words he actually understands the meaning), but he will try and say anything.

He's also started speaking mini sentences. For instance, he'll say "more" and then whatever it is he is requesting, such as "more milk", "more water", "more O's (cheerios)", etc. And he'll say "bye" to whoever he is speaking to - "bye mommy", "bye daddy", etc. Yesterday, Manu put a mini beach ball in the bathtub with him and he said "beach ball wet". So, he had associated that the water made the beach ball wet and was letting us know. This morning he told me: "blub blub dirty." Translation: his fish sand toy had sand in it from our last beach trip. He then made me give the "blub blub" a "bath" to clean it. It's hilarious....this is such a fun age - watching his little mind process things and piece things together. I love watching him learn and grow every day!

While he has made huge strides on the verbal front, we are still pretty uncoordinated on the mobility standpoint. He STILL falls (hard and badly) pretty frequently. I don't know if he just starts moving faster than his body can handle or if he is still just not very coordinated, but we constantly have a large bruise/knot on our forehead. I asked the pediatrician about it at his checkup, but she said not to worry and to just leave him shoe-less as often as possible, so no shoes on in the house! It kills me though...he's 15 months and doesn't know how to crawl up stairs, or slide off the couch, or climb up onto the futon, or even walk well - ha! Meanwhile, our neighbor's child across the hall is not even a year old, and she is walking everywhere, rarely falls (and when she does it is so graceful...she simply catches herself with her hands as opposed to head-butting her forehead on the floor like we do!), climbs up on top of things, etc.

They say every child focuses on things at their own pace - I guess we're more focused on talking than moving (remember, we didn't roll over until 8 months, and never crawled!) To each his own!

A few pics from our recent travels:



White House photo op












Very cool toddler playground in DC










Driving with Garfield at the outlets in Gulf Shores









Look! I stole someone else's racquet!