Running Commentary
I always have trouble answering the question “Is he speaking in sentences yet?” This is because the Boo has been putting words together for a very long time. The problem is, until recently, we had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. I suppose they were sentences — what else could they have been?
Now though, he’s leaped forwards in terms of speaking ability so that, should he feel the urge, we can actually have a conversation. It’s novel. He also sometimes (again depending on mood) gives a running commentary. This is particularly evident in the car where he sees a lot of things he likes. It can go something like this:
Cranky! There’s a Cranky! Blue car. Like blue car. TRUCK! Behind truck. Bye bye truck! BUS! Hi bus. Bye bye bus. Green car! Cranky! (There are a lot of cranes in our town, and to the Boo, they are all Cranky the Crane from Thomas Trains.)
When he really likes something he’ll go on and on about it. One time he talked about a blue volvo we saw near our house for a solid 20 minutes on the way to a friend’s house. He also likes the green volvo that is often parked near our house. These are old volvos, the “cool” volvos. The kid has taste 
He also frequently says “byebye guinea pig”, talking about the guinea pig we saw at a friend’s house last Saturday. That’s 6 days ago! I think I see a guinea pig or hamster or bunny rabbit in our future.
The point is, the Boo is quite the talker these days. He’ll even pull out books and start asking what things are. He’s very descriptive, he’ll talk about color and size and what whatever it is can do. He’s very inquisitve and it takes approximately half an hour to get from our front door into our car because we must stop and look at ever spiderweb on the way there, and the all the rocks in the actual parking lot. There are a lot of spiders and rocks out there.
While I do miss some of the baby things the Boo did, this age is just amazing. For the most part he’s fairly cooperative as long as you indulge his curiosities, and he’s so excited about everything he learns and sees that it’s hard not to just follow him around, waiting to see what he notices next. He’s still not all that keen on being “taught”, but he’s very observant. I finally get to witness that “childlike curiosity” people often talk about. It’s a wonderful thing to see.