23 months

You will be 2 years next month! This is your second Christmas. I am so excited to go through the holiday season with you. To see you discover the joy and surprise and beauty of this season! I am trying to establish Christmas tradition now that we can share every year.

You and I made Christmas cookies this week. I cut the sugar cookies from the tube and you sprinkled green and red sugar on top of them! Maybe next year we will make homemade cookies.

It snowed this morning and you were very excited to be out in it. You thought it was so neat.

Your talking has improved and you know so many more words. I love hearing you say a new word for the first time. You are very very smart!

Both sides of the family are excited to see you this season!

On to daily things...

You are definitely going through a stage, whining is your thing now. I must admit it drives me batty sometimes. You will whimper like a puppy if I won't hold you or sit and watch "Shaun the Sheep" with you or I am busy cooking.

You hate tags in your shirts. You make us tear them out before you will let us put them on you.

You love to help Papa fix things. We have been painting the kitchen cabinets and replacing the hardware. You grab a tool and join right in!

Oh, Grandma gave you DVD's to teach you the letters of the alaphbet. You love watching them and are catching on so quickly. Did I mention that you are smart? You make the sounds that some of the letters make. Your favorite sound to make is "C" and "P". We have alaphebet magnets on the fridge and you move those around and make letter sounds.

I am so excited about the NEW Year. 2 will be a huge and wonderful year of learning and growing. I am so excited!!! We will start potty training and sleeping in a big boy bed!

You really are a joy to have around! I love you so much!

Love
Mama

22 months

So much has happened in this last month!

Here are a list of your accomplishments:
We stopped using the paci during the day! (now it is only for nap time and bed time)
You say all kinds of words, too many to type out.
You know your colors!!! You hold up crayons and tell or ask us the colors, you point to different colors on an old patch work quilt and say the colors!
You are starting to try using the potty ( no real success yet)
You remember all your relatives and adapt to new people playing with you much quicker.
We are able to explain things to you and you understand, which now is starting to help you alter your mood...sometimes.
I can get you to do things by asking you to "Help"
You are choosing your outfits.

We are just having so much fun with your growth!

Last month we visited a petting zoo! You had a great time! you got to feed the goats and lamas. You got to see a Tiger up close (through fencing). You saw monkeys, pigs, snakes, camels, bison, ponies, foxes, Kangaroos and more!

Auntie T came for a visit. You spend tons of time playing with her and loving on her. It warms my heart that you take to her so well when you don't see her very often. I know she loves you so much and wants to be a part of your life! We all spent the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's we saw the largest tree house (its in the Gensis book of World Records), Then we went to a ranch for a fall festival. You got to feed horses and ride them, you really likes seeing the horses. You and your Papa jumped and played in one of those inflatable bounce houses. It is the first time we could get you to get inside one.

What a full month! You are lovable and fun! you give kisses and hugs and laugh out loud. You make me so very happy. I think you are adorable and wonderful! Know that you are truly loved by me and your Papa and our families!

Love you
Mama

21 mths

You are twenty one months this week. That sound really close to 24 months! Which means you are almost 2!

You have been doing this for a while but I haven't wanted to write about it because I was secretly denying what it means. Everytime (yes, I really mean EVERY TIME) I sing you shake your head "No". It does not matter what I am singing. Rubber Duckie, a lulliby, amazing Grace or some country song. It doesn't matter if I sing it fast or slow or in English or Spanish (I know a few songs in Spanish-thanks to your Grandma and Aunt Suzie). I am not a great singer, but I am not that bad! I have no idea why. So there it is I have put it out there in black and white which makes it real! I have come to laugh about it and often I sing to you just to see you shake your head "no". Maybe that will become an effective from of punishment.

A glimpse of a miles stone has started. You are sitting on the potty! Twice you have actually potty-ed in the potty! So I am excited at the thought of you becoming potty trained. I know you really are not ready, but you totally get the concept!

Here are a few new words from this month.
Up
more
Hot
what's that?
Mama is very clear now
cold
Truck

Words said once-
Thank you
Please
fire truck
hello

I love being your mama!

Animals

You love animals! Of course our love our dog, Indra, but you also love all animals. Grandma gave you a place mat with all kinds of animals on it. As we eat you point to the animals and we tell you that they are. When you point to the lion or alligator you make the roar sound that that animal makes.

You love your Tigger! You carry him around most places you go. Usually with you blue blanket!

Duke is you bed time dog. He stays in your crib and at night you cuddle up with it and lay your head on top of him.

Namma gave you this doggie chair. It is you favorite place to sit, climb on or just plain old tackle! You love to put it on the couch and try and sit on it, but every once in a while the doggie chair wins and you get tossed to the floor.

Love
Mama

20 mths

I have almost missed your twentieth month post!

I have been working a lot this month and I think it takes a toll on you. You seem to know when I steel even one hour from our normal routine! Which makes you more fussy as you protest more and more each time I leave.

You have been doing so well in Daycare and getting better at being nice to your friends! We are still waiting for coherent speech from you. but you always get your point across. You have been loving bath time, you play with the bubbles and enjoy squeezing the faucet so that the water squirts all over. You also are really getting into brushing your teeth. You get your little stool and pull it up to the sink grab your tooth brush and brush (or chew on it). You also like to take Mom and Dads tooth brush and scrub the counters, or the stool or the door frame! You don't yet understand that some things are "clean" and should not touch "dirty" things. Oh, well it just increases our immune system!

You got your first tick, although I don't know how! We also confirmed that you are still allergic to Tomatoes--you got a whole body rash! so sorry!

You really love social stuff, and once you warm up to your surroundings you make your way around the room and climb, touch, or play with everyone in the room. We took you to a friends house to watch a football game. You had such a good time.

The first photo is of your new past time or drawling on the walls. Not my favorite talent of yours. But I do love your other new past time which is drumming! You love to take candle sticks and drum on stuff, tables, chairs, pretty much anything. I secretly hope you become a drummer, I always wanted to be a drummer, but I have no rhythm.

I love you always and you are the delight in our life!

Love your Mama.

19 months

This week you turn 19 months. It is starting to sink in the hugeness of parenting. As you are growing you are understanding so much and talking is just around the corner. The responsibility of teaching you about Christ and the daily follow through that it involves is over whelming as a parent. I know it is just living the example and taking the moments in life to enforce the foundations of the Christian faith. But your father and I want to do that well and there is such a burden in my heart for you to know Him! Know that your Papa and I are growing in our faith too. We are not perfect and at times loose our tempers with you. Please forgive us, we always regret it! In our weakness we can only point to Christ who is a perfect loving, teaching, and disciplining Father.

I have to admit I let you talk me into TV much too often and (thanks to your Papa) chocolate milk may be your first two syllable word! Each morning that there is time you and I and Indra go on a walk. We have started taking a different route where we pass by one yard with two huge Great Danes and then another yard with a big Rotweiler! I am nervous because I know if they wanted to they could clear that fence and not break stride. But not you, you love it and you love it even more when they get all worked up and bark! You love dogs. Your Papa takes you to the dog park, every once in a while, and you get to run free with all the doggies. You get licked, smelled, knocked over and barked at! But it does not bother you.

I can already see your charm coming out especially when the girls are around! You smile and they are smitten.

I want to teach you balance and perspective, wisdom and spontaneity, an understanding of compassion and generosity. I want to allow you to live out your own personality and discover your God given gifts. I want so much for you, but all I can do is love you and take each day at a time, using each opportunity to guide you as you grow.

Love,
Mama

A few extra things

Here are a few extra thing you do that I think are so cute! You have always loved the car. touching buttons, knobs, climbing over the seats. But lately you want to DRIVE. You climb in the drivers seat and ask me to put the keys in and turn it on so the radio plays. Once you have music you turn that steering wheel back and forth and every once in a while you move the shifter. You have seen Papa and Mama drive that way and you want to too! It is so fun to watch your understanding of objects, and concepts grow.

Last night you actually asked for a hair cut! We had been talking about cutting your blonde wispy hair for a few days. Last night before you would get in the tub you found Papa's clippers and brought them to him. Then you stood there and let him cut your hair! You were so patient and calm! The noise didn't frighten you, the clippers touching your head didn't bother you! You were such a big boy! Now you have a hair cut that makes you look so much older!

Sunday we went to a Fourth of July picnic. They had big inflatable rides, and cotton candy, snow-cones, cookies, and a live puppet show! You had such a great time. You watched intently the puppet show and clapped along with them, you (Papa and Mama) helped you slide down a huge tall inflatable slide and you ate junk food all afternoon! Then a band came on stage and the concert started! You ran right up front and danced and jumped to the music. We had a blast!

I am loving watching you grow up and seeing the new personality that comes out in you!

Love always,
Mama