Gavin is 21 months old

[This post is SO late but here it is anyway]
I meant to do an update on the 1st when he actually turned 21 months but forgot.  Although he hasn't changed physically, his understanding and vocabulary have improved leaps and bounds.
Here are some of my favorite words/phrases of the moment:

1.  "Hey Mamma" or "Hey Daddy"- these usually occur either in the morning or when he's distracted playing and then looks up and realizes that we're still there.
2.  "What happened?"-- typically more like "oh, no. what happened?"
3.  "What are you doing?"- This he must have picked up from TV or us around the house.  He sits and waits for a response so he knows it's a question but I'm still baffled at whether he actually knows what he's asking.
4.  "Drive"---he loves to drive anything and everything with a wheel, or that resembles a mode of transportation.
5.  "So good"-- so far only refers to food.  Last week when we were on our way back from Disney, we knew it was close to dinner time and he must be hungry.  We asked him if he wanted to eat and he said "yes", then he says "potatoes...so good......green beans" so we knew we had to get him home asap to feed him.  I love that he lets me know when he likes a meal.  It makes me feel "so good" when it's a meal I've prepared from scratch and he appreciates it that much.

Cute things Gavin says at the wrong time:

1.  "Fun" or "Funny"--- anytime you tell him to not do something he does it and tells us "fun" while he's doing it.  For example, he tends to climb onto his toys to get to higher stuff and when we tell him to get down, he'll reply "fun" as he continues to climb.

2.  "Hug"---anytime he is placed on time out, he tries to get out of it by offering us hugs as he whimpers.  It's really cute and I hate to deny a hug but I do think he's old enough that he knows how to manipulate.

"Personality" showing through:

He certainly has preferences and will voice his opinion about them.  A few weeks ago, he spent the day wearing TWO pairs of pijama pants because he wanted the ones with cars AND the ones with fire trucks.  It took me a while to understand that he wanted both- because I kept thinking he wanted the other ones and kept taking the pants off, until it dawned on me to ask if he wanted both and he said "yes" and happily complied after that.  He sometimes will pick his clothes out, mostly by saying "no" to what we have picked out and then we let him tell us what he wants.  Most of the time he just wears what we pick out and it's actually not hard to change his mind.  On shoes, it's a bit more difficult.  Once he sets his mind to a pair of shoes, it's just easier to find the outfit that will match them. :)

He will direct whoever is around to sing the song of his choice.  He will say the name of the song (e.g. ABC, star, e-i-e-i-o, etc.) and then name the person who should sing it to him.  If another person starts singing, he will continue saying "no" until the "right" person sings.  The same happens if they sing the wrong song.

Now he has started to ask for milk and tell you which cup he wants. So, he'll say "leche, green" and that means milk in the green cup.  If you pick another cup, he whines and says "no, green" until you switch.
Oh, and now he refuses to sit in any high chair to eat.  He wants to sit in a "real" chair at the table just like everyone else.  We went out to eat today and he threw a fit when the server brought the high chair.  We thought we were going to have to leave before we even sat down.  I asked him "what do you want?", he said "sit chair" and pointed to the real chair.  I said, "ok, but you have to sit. if you get up then you have to sit here" and lo and behold- he sat down in the real chair the entire time while we had dinner.  Nick and I were amazed (as the server I think!).

I will say that he doesn't always get his way but if we can accommodate his wants and it's not that inconvenient we will.  I heard a doctor on TV say that at this age they are testing boundaries and our job is to limit those boundaries but that it is also good to let them have some of their "wants" every once in a while so they build self-confidence and understand they won't always be shut down.  We're so lucky that Gavin is verbal enough to communicate with us so well because that does prevent many meltdowns.  We can usually reason with him and come to the desired outcome without too much fuss.  For example, this morning was 41 degrees outside and he did not want to wear a jacket.  Well, this is one of those non-negotiable scenarios, there's no way he can get his way  So, I asked him "do you want to see Isabel and Abuela?", he said "yes", I said "then you have to wear the jacket outside so we can see Isabel and Abuela." , I explained it was cold outside and everyone had to wear a jacket, "look, daddy and I have jackets b/c it's cold" and he put the jacket on after that.  Sometimes he fights a little more but it doesn't take long for him to understand what we need him to do.

Night time for us is a pleasure.  I love how he just knows what to do and tells us when he's ready for bed without any whining or crying.  We put him in bed, he says "night, night, love you" and that's that.
He is our perfect little boy and we are very fortunate and proud! :)

BTW, I found a company that will print the blog like a book so I'm ecstatic that I'll be able to have Gavin's life in book format for him to read one day.  Because of this, I may start to post shorter posts to record certain milestones or "Gavinisms" instead of long stories but I'm not sure yet.  It's just great since I haven't had time to scrapbook pictures but I've been better at posting them here.