What J likes part 1 - age 17 months - part 1

I thought it'd be fun to list what J likes at the moment at 17 months. Some of these border on obsessions, given how much he does them:

• dancing (by bending knees and bobbing up and down) - this makes mummy laugh :-) At the weekend we were doing the hokey cokey and other action songs and he was grinning the whole time. He's very good at spinning round too)

• music (J responds so much to music - sometimes he sits transfixed, sometimes he dances. When I turn on music in the car, he has started making froggy (the frog that's hung on the carseat in front of him) dance by grabbing the legs and waving them up and down. He has a big grin on his face when he does this.)

• other children (younger and older) - he's fascinated by them and loves watching and interacting with them. He's really quite sociable (which is great!) - although he may be a bit quieter in a new setting, he's not a shy child.

• cooking - he's loved mixing and stirring for ages, but the latest thing is making omelettes (cracking open eggs, pouring them into the bowl, using the electric mixer (and imitating it), cutting the butter - all done with a great deal of concentration).

• the word 'couscous' - he laughs whenever I say it :-)

• pushing round his shopping trolley

• trucks, dustbin trucks, cement mixers, planes, trains. Please don't say "typical boy" - he loves such a range of things that are "typically boy" as well as "typically girl" things. I cringe at the toaster he has - it came from an NCT sale and is pink and has "girls only" on it. Yuck yuck yuck...  but he loves the way the toast pops up and has no problem with the colour or inscription (yet!).

• Making cups of tea, offering them to others and pretending to drink them himself (with lipsmacking etc too)

• vacuuming (or rather, pretending to vacuum, as it's too noisy for him when switched on! Again, he likes imitating the noise)

• cleaning with a dustpan and brush (we were staying with friends at the weekend and they were concerned that J was going into the cupboard below the sink where non-toddler friendly things were kept. J showed no interest in anything other than the dustpan and brush, and kept getting them out all weekend :-)

• hairdryers (he returns to the drawer where mine is kept several times every day and then carries it round, making the noises, pointing at his or my hair and trying to plug it in.

• Thomas the Tank Engine, Peppa Pig, Maisy (pictures, stories, DVDs... everything)

• the moon (he spotted the moon for the first time last week, and now points at it very insistently every time we see it)

By the way - I have been wracking my brains for "moon" songs - any suggestions? All I could think of was "Au Clair De La Lune" (link to wikipedia) but got stuck with the words. For the record - here's the first verse:

Au clair de la lune

Mon ami Pierrot

Prête-moi ta plume

Pour écrire un mot

Ma chandelle est morte

Je n'ai plus de feu

Ouvre-moi ta porte

Pour l'amour de Dieu

• fastenings (he can sit for a very long time with things as simple as the fastening of my bag or the buggy so and I've just bought 2 special boards as part of his Christmas present. I think they're great - let's hope he does too: a latches board  (link to Amazon)

and a basic skills board (link to Amazon).

[Yes they are aimed at older kids, but his fine motor skills are so good I think he'll be ready for them before he's 3 or 4 (which is what they say!)]

Right - that's enough for now! To be continued...