Parker is just developing so quickly. Some of his more recent accomplishments & milestones

• Can refer to himself by his name – if asked, “who are you?” he will point to his chest and say “puh, puh, puh” – which is how I’m teaching him his name – I say “you’re name is puh, puh, puh, Parker!”
• Can point to the following in books or around the house when asked, in both Vietnamese and English
• bird
• bus
• boat
• bear
• water
• monkey
• rabbit
• dog
• car
• and several others
• Will say “duh”, if he hears “quack quack”
• enjoys stepping into dad’s shoes and trying to walk
• uses the dog as a step stool to climb onto the coffee table and the couch (video coming soon!)
• calls me both dada and ba
• can say airplane and water in Vietnamese
• can take shaped puzzle pieces (animals, cars, etc) and place them into the cutouts on the puzzle board
• likes to give kisses, but not into giving hugs very much
• went swimming for the first time since we were in Viet Nam (when he was only 4.5 months old) – LOVED IT! Jumped in from the side of the pool, went underwater without issue – didn’t want to get out
• likes to put things in the toilet if you forget to close the bathroom door
• says “HIIIIIIIIII” very enthusiastically to lots of people when going shopping
• Is doing some serious teething – he has at least five teeth all coming in at once both top and bottom
• is still a good and not-very-picky eater
• sometimes likes to use utensils to eat
• LOVES bubbles
• likes to read and will bring me books or sit and look through them himself
• likes to help me – I always get a big, dimple-laden smile if I ask him to help, and then tell him how big a help he was (especially seems to like pretending with the screwdriver)
• says “muna” for banana (also coming on video soon!)
• likes to cuddle in bed after waking up
• likes to spin and get dizzy
• loves to watch me spin the dreidel and spinning tops we bought in Viet Nam – tries to do it himself – he has the twisting of the fingers down right, but can’t do it nearly hard/fast enough to actually make it spin
• tries to put on clothing by himself, but obviously is too young to actually do it
• just yesterday noticed him semi-singing along to a song
• is interested in looking at/touching babies

I think that’s enough of a snapshot of Parker An at 17 1/2 months old. I’ll post video/pictures later this week.