Recently Steven has started to say his own name. He says it "Ste-man" but close enough :) I've also taught him his middle & last name. He doesn't always say them but sometimes we'll be driving in the car & he'll say "Name: Ste-man James Pendleton [Pendleton is said very quickly & smashed together]. Job!" I tell him "good job!" when he does something good so it's so cute to see him cheer for himself (he will also sometimes say "Yay!" after he does something).
Yesterday we were at Costco & Steven stopped to look at one of the people at the sample stands. The gentleman said hi & Steven said, "Name: Ste-man". It was so cute! He's definitely becoming more aware & it's fun to watch. Along those same lines, today after church we were walking in & he introduced himself to the neighbor's cat. He bent down a little and said, "Hi. Name: Ste-man". Oh, and when he says "Name" he points to his chest. What a smart little boy :)
Steven also has discovered what noise a frog makes. He'll randomly crouch down & hop like a frog while saying "Ribbit, ribbit!"
Steven is really into TV, especially Dora & Diego. If we let him, he would want to watch it all day. So a few weeks ago I decided to put a limit on how much he watches. We got an extra timer & told Steven that he can watch TV for an hour & then he needs to take a break for *at least* an hour. He hardly ever actually sits down & watches the TV for an entire hour...if he does leave & take a break in the middle of his "TV hour", we'll stop the timer until he starts watching again. Anyway, last Saturday, I was at my Chem lab so Josh was watching the kids. Josh was feeding Sofia when he heard the timer go off. Steven came running in & said, "Times up! Times up, Daddy!" Josh told him he needed to take a break now & go read a book or play with his puzzle or something like that. Steven left the room & Joshcame into the kitchen a little bit later. He heard the TV on & said, "Steven, you need to turn off the TV". He didn't hear any reply & so he walked into the living room to see what was going on. He didn't see Steven & so he started looking for him. Josh found Steven in his bed, asleep, with this blanket pulled up around him. He has never done that before! Apparently he decided that taking a nap would be the best way to spend his break. It was around his nap time, & he slept for 2+ hours, so it worked out great! What a funny kid :)
