Mini Milestones - Elliot at 20 months

I've read a few blogs which feature mini milestones of their toddlers and I love seeing how Elliot is progressing compared to other children his age. I can't promise a mini milestone post every month but I will definitely be aiming to do regular updates! I think it will be really nice to look back on see how he is growing because at the moment, life seems to be passing by in a blur and before I know it, he'll be a teenager!!

Speech
Elliot's speech is improving all the time and I now understand lots of what he is saying even if it does sound abit gobbleygook! He has lots of words that he now knows such as bath bath, cheeeese, ta, car, poo poo , tractor, Peppa, keys, drink, tea, yes, no (he's very assertive when he says no!), mine, youtube (guess what he likes doing on the iPad!!), splash and bat! He can also say nanna and grandad really well - two words he gets very excited about!
In the past week he has started to put words together which is very exciting. This morning he said "mummy bath bath!" when I was on my way into the bathroom for a shower!
Also this week Elliot has started saying "mummy" and "daddy" rather than mumma and dadda. It's very cute but makes him sound more grown up!
Obviously there are lots he can't say yet but gives it a good go - he can't say Laura (my sister) and calls her Agalag!!
Elliot loves making animal noises and knows which noise belongs to what animal. I'm proud that he's been able to do this since before he was one. My favourite animal noise he does is the pig!! We found a really good video on youtube that he really loves oinking and roaring along to:
The Animal Noise Song

Numbers
We've been trying to introduce counting and Elliot is getting really good at holding up one or two fingers when we ask "how many..." questions. He's got lots of books that have counting themes so I try and make sure we read these regularly.

Physical Development
Elliot has been walking since 11 months and once he'd passed the chimp phase (arms in the air, waddling along!) there was nothing stopping him! He doesn't mind being in the buggy but he'd much rather be walking...or running!! I stupidly didn't put him in a trolley in the supermarket the other day and he ran from one end to the other - I didn't know his little legs could go that fast!! I had to run after him...my little legs certainly don't go that fast!! It's amazing how far they can walk too - on a daytrip a few weeks ago we took the buggy but he was barely in it and must have walked about 5 miles by the end of the day. He slept well that night ;)
He likes to climb and we've recently discovered he can climb onto our dining table chairs. No more leaving things on the table - everything is in his grasp now! Speaking of which, he can now also reach the keys in the doors and I'm sure it won't be long before he realises how to unlock them!!

Social Skills
We started going to our local Under One's baby group when Elliot was around 10 weeks and it really helped with his social skills. He's a very friendly little boy and not clingy in the slightest. He's happy to go off and play and he only comes to find me when he's hungry or thirsty!
Elliot really likes to cuddle his little friends now and it's lovely to see but he hasn't quite mastered knowing when to stop!
We met some lovely friends through our various baby groups we have attended and it means there's always someone around for a playdate :)

Food
We are really lucky that Elliot isn't a fussy eater and will pretty much scoff whatever is put in front of him. I have noticed that the warmer weather has affected his appetite a bit - lunch times can be a bit hit or miss but he'll always have a nice big meal at teatime so I know he's not going to go hungry! His favourites are sausages (of any variety!), any fruit & veg, wafer thin ham, cheese (he helps himself straight from the fridge!), pasta and his current snack of choice - ice pops! He also loves cake but I do try not to encourage his sweet tooth!

Favourite Things
Trains - especially those "borrowed" from Grandad's shed! My dad has a little model railway in his shed and Elliot always makes a beeline for this when we visit. They spend ages in there!
Ducky - Ducky was purchased by my husband on the day Elliot was born, he was meant to be at home having a sleep while we rested at the hospital but instead he found himself in Toys R Us itching to buy him his first pressie! Ducky has seen better days - he's been in the washing machine a few times, plus cuddled to death every night. Not to mention dropped in the litter tray!
Stickers - before we had Elliot, my brother in law hated it when we gave his children stickers and I never understood why.....now I do!!! Elliot loves stickers but they get everywhere, I went out with a sticky Iggle Piggle stuck to my bum last week! Still, it keeps him quiet!
Books - I've always been a bookworm and I love that Elliot has inherited this, he has so many books that I've literally run out of room in his bedroom. Quite often I find him sat in his room on a pile of books!
Football - I've written about this in a previous post but he loves kicking a ball around, and he's so happy at his Little Kickers football classes on a Saturday morning!

Elliot and his Grandad in their favourite place :)