We've lost count on the words he can say, but I'd guess well over 200. He finally started saying two-word sentences this last month or two and has really taken off. You can tell it just clicked - now he'll say "Mommy Dada Papa Grandma mower" all in one breath (this is usually what he says he wants to thank God for when we pray. Yep, gotta get that mower in there.). It's so fun because we feel like we are really having conversations with him lately! Our baby is growing up!
After his wake-up time had slowly inched its way all the back to 6:15am and he was averaging about 2 hours less sleep per day than he was getting just a few months ago (from 7-7 and 1.5 hr nap to 8-6:15 and still only 1.5 hr nap) we decided to hang some blankets over his windows until I can make some blackout curtains. (Hey, when you're desperate for your toddler to sleep longer, you'll do just about anything!). We don't know why we didn't do it sooner. The first week of having them up he was sleeping from 8 until 7:30 or 8!! And bonus, his naps were 2-3 hours! I think he had a lot of sleep to catch up on. This week I think he's getting evened back out, sleeping from 8 to 7 and 2+ hour naps usually. We'll take it!
We're getting him used to the potty and it's going really well. He's peed in it several times now and has even gone #2 a couple times. We're not really training him yet (definitely don't think he's got the bladder control down yet), it's just something he enjoys doing so we try it out a couple times a day or whenever he asks.
He has really been so much fun - it's been awesome seeing his personality emerge more with each passing day. He's such a little character! And he's really been pretty easy on us too, as far as disciplining and throwing fits and such. Several months back were rough in that department - like we didn't want to do anything fun with him because he'd want to do it a million times and have a meltdown if he didn't get to - but it's definitely been easier. We can reason with him better, give him choices on things, and he typically follows directions the first time we ask (this is always a work in progress but we see SO much improvement). God just knew we needed a little breather and encouragement before we hit the terrible twos! ;)
His favorite things lately:
Dirt
Any and all machines that do anything with dirt (which is convenient for him since we typically pass through 3 work zones when we drive to Liberty - one way!)
Mowers
Reading books - especially books about "dirt" or "ashee" (translated = "machines")
Sesame Street and Dinosaur Train
Spotting airplanes in the sky
Birds
Golf
Babies
Being outside (as if you didn't notice the theme already going there! His only major meltdowns are when we bring him in from outside.)
Funny things he's been doing:
He LOVES holding babies and will wrap up anything resembling a baby (even a plastic dinosaur) in a blanket and hold it on his lap. He started doing this after holding one of the babies in our small group. It's absolutely precious.
He'll jump on us or tackle us and then immediately ask "alrigh? alrigh?" (translated = "are you alright?"). Then he'll do it again. And again. ;)
He knows what he wants and now that he has the vocabulary, he'll tell you what it is. (E.g. "Sit, read" as he tosses a book on me and climbs on my lap while I'm working on the computer). We love that about him, but we're working on teaching him how to wait for things and that sometimes he just can't have what he wants.
About a month ago he learned the word "play" and it is probably one of the cuter and more heartbreaking words he says. Cute when it's the very first word he says when he wakes up in the morning... heartbreaking when it's bedtime and he has to go "nigh nigh" or when Dad is leaving for "wohk". The way he says it even is especially cute/heartbreaking - he turns a one-syllable word into 3 syllables, really dragging out the plaa-aa-aay with a soft, high-pitched plead to it.
When Daddy gets home at night he hits this crazy hyper stage that I very rarely see during the day. It's like he saves up all this energy for his limited time with his dad so that he can go ALL OUT. I've heard this same thing from so many other families, but it's still just so fun to see it happen every evening in our house.
He loves 'counting' things. He usually just repeats 2, 4, and 6 while he's counting - just gotta work on those odd numbers now!
The first time he really tried jumping with both feet off the ground he landed on his bottom and we all laughed. Well, you can imagine that now he thinks that it's just hilarious to jump up and land smack on his bottom every time. Good thing his tailbone is still rubbery!!
All of these pics were taken on his 20 month birthday while he was telling me some big stories. :)
Love hearing his prayers!
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