Father's Day and 18-Month Birthday!

Sunday we celebrated our second Father's Day with Benjamin Bug. He made a special card, with a tracing of his feet on the cover, for his daddy as well as drawing him a picture of a tree. Pics soon!

And yesterday Benjamin turned 18 months old. A year and a half. Wow. Since his Halmoni was feeling up to it we went to the mall (his first time) and he toddled around and talked, quite loudly!, for most of the trip. We took a quick rest in the center of the mall when I heard him say, "tractor" several times. Being in the mall I was thinking there was no way there was a tractor anywhere around but he insisted and I followed his eyes and there in the middle of the mall was a large riding lawn mower that was being raffled off. He walked over to it yelling tractor over and over. I was floored. He was right, it looked just like a tractor. How does he know what a tractor is?? We just got him a book a few days ago that has different vehicles in it but have only gone over it a few times. But he remembered.

Loo Loo

Tonight Benjamin said "Loo Loo" for the first time. Yey!

Shadows

Benjamin discovered his shadow tonight. And others. Like really really discovered them.

Walking!

Benjamin is officially walking today! Yesterday at the acupuncturist while we were waiting for Halmuni to get treatment he used her leopard print cane to toddle around. He called it his "walking stick" but it tripped him up almost as much as it did assist in his walking, especially when he insisted on holding the tip-top of the handle. But as long as he was holding it he had the confidence to move around the room. The same has been true with his Dora backpack we got him a week or two ago. It has a luggage pull handle and wheels on it and he will pick it up and walk around with it but never felt comfortable completely letting go and walking for more than a step or two on his own. But today he just started walking, freely on his own accord! I didn't tell Henry about it while he was at work because I was in denial. So when he got home he was surprised to see his little baby had turned into a walking boy in the few hours he was gone. I'm still in denial but his Uncle Billy got proof with these short videos below.

Tub Talk

Here is sweet Benjamin taking a bath the night before his 17-month birthday. The video highlights some of his favorite words as well as his love of the water.

Happy 17 Months! You've learned so much!

One hundred and eleven words!
To commemorate Benjamin's 17 Month Birthday, we've compiled a list of the 111 words (and/or signs) that he uses regularly-- all of his own accord, these are not the product of mere mimicry-- he knows what all these mean, what they describe, and in many many cases how they taste!
He understands and responds to lots more words and signs than these, but below are the ones he uses to express his very cute thoughts.

1. Momma
2. Daddy
3. Halmoni*
4. Bum Bum
5. Dog
6. Poppy
7. Up
8. Woof
9. Meow
10. Cat
11. Boo!
12. Open
13. Help
14. Hey
15. Bye Bye
16. Hi
17. Sock
18. Night Night
19. Banana
20. Cookie
21. Cracker
22. Bop*
23. Bath
24. (tooth) Brush
25. Turtle
26. Light
27. Thtmhtmp! (elephant sound)
28. Raar! (lion sound)
29. Rrraarr! (dinosaur sound)
30. quack (duck sound)
31. bock (chicken sound)
32. More
33. Bug
34. Mine
35. Me
36. Benjamin
37. No
38. Bubble
39. Boobie
40. Ellie
41. Apple
42. Blueberry
43. Block
44. Baby
45. Car
46. Go
47. Poop
48. Dip
49. Book
50. Clock
51. Tick Tock
52. Tweet (bird sound)
53. Baaa (sheep sound)
54. Hook
55. Woosh (wind sound)
56. Dora
57. Yogabgabgabgabgabblblablablabab (yo gabba gabba)
58. Duck
59. Hat
60. Birthday
61. Aww
62. Egg
63. Waffle
64. Stick
65. Sticker
66. “puurrr”
67. Grrrr! (tiger sound)
68. boo boo
69. yucky
70. walk
71. run
72. boom
73. truck
74. pants
75. glasses
76. more (sign)
77. waving hi & bye (sign)
78. milk (sign)
79. Franklin
80. Booger
81. Button
82. Look!
83. My
84. Nein!! ("No" in German)
85. Nyumnyumnyum ("yum yum")
86. Wipe
87. Tickle
88. Hot
89. Shh
90. "What is this?" (this is pronounced "duwh" -- while pointing at things, the meaning is clear even if the pronunciation is creative)
91. oink (pig sound)
92. ball
93. three
94. abc (sign)
95. oscar
96. cookie (monster)
97. bird
98. big bird
99. burp
100. fart (sign)
101. balloon
102. rubber band
103. cupcake
104. splash
105. girl
106. oops
107. bahng goo *(fart)
108. moo (cow sound)
109. friend (sign)
110. backpack
111. beep beep

*Korean word

some favorite things

It's been a while since we've posted much-- we've been very busy with illness in the family, but Benjamin keeps on truckin and is growing and changing every day. He's cruising a lot (walking with the support of furniture, toys, dogs, and us), but not completely walking yet. But he's talking up a storm! One of my proudest moments was teaching him the word "butt." After learning it, he said it over and over and over for most of an hour. I'm such a positive influence!

Some other favorite words and pastimes...

His favorite snack these days is blueberries. (He'll eat more than 20 at a time if you let him.)
He's also still really into doggies (he used to refer to almost everything as "dog") but has really latched on to the word "baby" recently as a favorite. He has a little baby doll that he kisses (if you say "bopo baby" -- kiss in Korean -- he leans his head against her so she can give him a kiss).
He loves drinking from straws and playing with strings... and, speaking of strings, he just woke up and yanked my earbuds out of my ears by the cord.

Good morning, doodlebug!

Gotta run...