Blake ~ 22 & 23 Months!

Time is flying by Blake! I can't believe you're almost 2!!!

 

Memories from Month 22:
-To say you are obsessed with the alphabet and letters would be an understatement. You are consumed by it. You play with your alphabet puzzle for HOURS. When you bore of that, you briefly play with your letter magnets, and then return to the puzzle. When we get home/get up in the morning/get up after nap you see the puzzle and go "oooh, EFG". You call the alphabet "EFG" instead of "ABC" and it's adorable. You point out letters everywhere if they are capital letters (we're still working on lower case). You distract others in church pointing out letters on the screens! At first you surprised us by learning letters so fast and now your utter obsession is fascinating. I feel like you'll be reading chapter books next week.

 

-When you are asked what you would like to eat the response is always one of the following: Pizza, Nana (banana), apples and nanas, cookie.

-Physical growth: You just started wearing size 6 shoes. You still wear 18-24 month clothes. I put a 2T shirt on you the other day just to see and you were swimming in it. Pants can be a little trickier to fit around your cloth diapered butt but the 18 month size still works best. :)
-You have become the biggest goofball at home lately. When we're not home you're still very outgoing and chatty, but, the minute we get home you get hyper! You run around with this little evil laugh and squeal about "EFG", haha!

-One day, daddy went outside and yelled at Zoey because she was mean barking at the mailman. You looked right at me and said, "oh my" clear as day. I cracked up because that is what I will usually say in moments like that. You are mimicking. :)
-You are the cutest kid, seriously. Mommy is in the process of "changing" your hairstyle from a little faux hawk to a more suave look for the winter so we are growing it out a little bit. We get so many compliments about how cute you are, and I have to say, I think it's true. #bragpost
-At the very beginning of your 22nd month we celebrated Christmas with Daddy's side of the family (on New Year's Eve). You had so much fun getting spoiled. :)

 

-Mommy and Daddy (and you) went to the store and we printed off all of the pictures on our phones! Well not ALL of them, we made a DVD of that, but our favorites. Still....like 400-500 pictures. We've been labeling them over the past few evenings. Fun date nights! ;)
-You say, "OK" in this silly low voice (for a toddler) and it's so cute. :)
-Your found your spare blankie (they look identical) in the living room when we were doing laundry and now you seem to be growing attached to it. You always have one in your crib...but now you like having the extra one in the living room for "mini" cuddles on the floor (not with us of course, that would be barbaric! lol).
-When we get home from daycare you can put your coat away and your shoes away. I have to help get one sleeve of your coat off and then you do the rest.
-You've pretty much mastered going down the stairs by yourself. The day that I thought "he's got this" you had a little tumble when daddy was watching...but, I really do think we can say you've mastered it.
-Your cousin John was born at the beginning of January. We couldn't visit right away because mommy had the stomach flu. :( When we visited later you loved the baby! You wanted to hug him and 'pet' him. After a few hours you started to get jealous and shed a few tears. Mommy took you for a walk outside to calm down. Then you were fine again. You call him "Baby John". :)

Mommy's getting baby fever! ;)

-You started 2's and 3's Sunday School. Grandma is your teacher! So far I've only heard good commentary about you. I hear you like to observe the other kids. Sounds just like you, always curious.

After your first day of Sunday School!

Memories from Month 23:
-You are still obsessed with the alphabet and you call them "ABC's" now. :) You also like numbers. You can count 1-10 quickly. At first you refused to accept that there are numbers past 10, haha! But with some coercion you came to accept 11-20. ;) We haven't pushed too much past that.
-You beg for "apple sauce", which means a squeezy pouch, ALL. THE. TIME.
-You sing the ABC's and then sing them again, and again, and again. Especially when we go for walks. We try not to let it drive us bonkers!
-You have 4 bottom teeth (3 in front, 1 molar) and 6 upper teeth (4 in front, 2 molars).
-This is unbelievable (not really) but I feel like your brand new size 6 shoes are already getting tight... Update: Grandma has ordered size 7's. (Grandma buys most of your shoes; it's very kind of her!)
-Mommy and Daddy got you a Numbers (1-20) puzzle because you love your alphabet puzzle so much. You like it, but not as much as your beloved alphabet puzzle.
-Speaking of toys, I put a lot of your stuff away for now because you literally only really play with your puzzles (so why clutter the living room with lots of stuff?). I left out a few favorites that may get a minute or two of your time each afternoon. You still like your play kitchen, but mostly for hiding puzzle pieces. :)
-Your favorite shows to watch at home are LeapFrog's The Amazing Alphabet and the BabyGenius Sing-a-longs. On YouTube you love watching Raffi in concert.
-You love so many songs, but, if I had to guess your favorites I would say: ABC's, Apples and Bananas, Baby Shark DooDoo, Head and Shoulders, and Where is Thumbkin. You also enjoy singing Happy Birthday (to mommy and Blake)! :)
-You've started saying, "Oh my gosh" and I thought it was from daycare, but daddy thinks it's from me. Uh oh.
-Chicken has been added to the list of most requested foods.
-You have 3 "chores" when we get home from school: putting your coat away (you lay it on the chair because you can't reach to hang it), putting your shoes on your shoe shelf in the living room and feeding Zoey her food. When you feed Zoey you get all of it in her bowl about half of the time. The other times you pick up each piece one. by. one. and put them back in her bowl. I think it just about kills the dog to wait that long so mommy helps. Then you put her scoop back in the bin, put the top on and shut the closet door. You also know how to bring dishes to the kitchen and dump them in the sink (or set them on the counter) and where trash goes.
-You've started walking on your tip toes again every now and then.
-One Friday we told you that we were going to visit Opa and Grandma that weekend. Mommy was leaving for work and could hear your joyful shrieks from outside of the house. Daddy was inside with you and said you kept shrieking and then ran over, hugged his legs, and said, "excited"! That was a brand new word for you! You've also started saying "awesome".
-You have a lisp on your S's and it's absolutely adorable.
-You love going to the Children's Museum and you and daddy have visited mommy at work (on lunch) a couple of times after your museum visits.

-You've been to Sunday School a few times now and you've only been described as very good! They say you are quiet and like to sit and watch others with a little smile and wonder on your face. You're not actually 2 yet so most of the kids are older than you. However, you don't sing any of the songs (even though you sing them non stop at home) out loud. Grandma even led the class in the ABC's to see if you'd sing along and you did not!
-For the last week or so of this month you ate so much. Growth spurt for sure! All of the sudden your 18 month pants are looking a little short and your feet need those size 7 shoes! Some of your shirts also seem a little short but yet you swim in the 2T size. Maybe mommy should try again...who knows with the way you grow!
-You got a Mickey Mouse baseball cap and you are obsessed with wearing it (backwards). You even cried one night because mommy wouldn't let you wear it to bed. You also love your winter hat and you can put it on yourself now.

 

 

Here are some more pictures from the last couple of months!

Trying on my new boots!

 

Hanging out with Grandma's chickens

With Daddy and Uncle Neil

 

Silly boy eating the receipt!

Watching your first Disney Movie...Snow White!

You just loved the big balloon the car dealer gave you!

Sleepy Boy

"Helping" mommy up the stairs

Time for bed

Lots of books to read in your teepee before bed!

Occasionally mommy gets some snuggles while we read :) 

You got some Valentine's mail from Grandma!

 

First time in a booster seat....you fell over! We'll wait a little longer, hahaha!

Putting your dishes away (without being asked!)

You loved your valentine from Grandma so much you hugged it all week....and pointed out the letters ;)

First ride in Grandpa's Jeep (mommy was borrowing it); you couldn't stop saying "Bupa's Jeep".

Playing with your buddy Landon :)

Enjoying the unseasonably warm weather....busting out the chalk in February!

Love seeing your sleeping face :)

Blake, we love you more than we can say in words! Your 2 year post is next and may very well be the post that completes my "monthly" posts. I've been doing these since we announced we were pregnant with you! It's been amazing looking back at all of the posts I've written; it's truly more complete than your baby book! But, I'm so busy keeping up with you now that I find it hard to spend the time on these posts when I'd rather be playing with you! However, I hope to do annual posts (or maybe a few a year!) to keep up a little bit. Love you buddy!