Clever title

A lot of people who don't have kids don't understand why parents use "months" as a young kid's age rather than "years." It's because the differences between a 13 month old and a 23 month old are vast. They're both one, but developmentally they're on separate planets. Which is why I'm always saying things like, "Three months ago Ben couldn't even do X and now he's practically proficient." Babies and toddlers change so fast that even parents who see them every day can be surprised.

For example, yesterday Ben came up to me holding something (I can't even remember what, now) and he asked, "What's this?" That blew me away because he'd never formed such a real question before. It turns out Heath had heard him say it earlier this week, but yesterday was my first time. It was a full sentence and I could understand it perfectly well and he knew what he was asking. I'm not used to that kind of clarity from him. Only a while later did I realize with horror what it would mean now that he could ask, "What's this?"

We're to the point now that he's repeating any new word we say and also any new word he hears. We were playing Play-Doh a couple weeks ago and I had on the Nerdist podcast. After I turned it off Ben said, very clearly, "podcast." And that's when I realized I shouldn't play the "explicit" podcasts around him anymore.

The cutest thing he does right now, though, is trying to sing. There are a couple songs he can fill in a few words if I sing most of it, but his favorite is the ABC's. He has Heath and me sing that a lot. And sometimes he'll sing it to himself, but what he sings is, "ABC song, ABC song, ABC song."