Monday, March 11 ... 23 months

Because with 23 months, it's easy to do the math. The math being HOLY SHIT HE'S ALMOST TWO!!!!

Chris has finally started calling him a two-year old instead of a 1-year old. I kept trying to explain that when you say "my 1-year old" people picture a baby, crawling, maybe walking, babbling in a baby language, wearing a sleeper.

This is what a 1-year old looks like.

Now, this is what an almost 2-year old looks like.

He's been a big ball of tantrum these past few weeks. I can't blame him -- he's a little boy with big brain; a little person with some big, big feelings. There are some things he can't do, like put on his own boots; but there are things he wants to do, like put on his own boots. It usually starts when I have the audacity to get him dressed in the morning. It usually culminates in some sort of argument over brushing his teeth or a fourth book, when we give him the choice to either brush his teeth and continue the nightly routine, or to go to bed right then without puppy treats or a book. Then he refuses to brush his teeth and we follow through with putting him to bed and we're then the worst people of all time.

Also I think there are teeth involved. Big teeth. Big boys grow big teeth.

(on the bright side, teething means Popsicles for dinner)

In other news, he's a freaking genius. (I read the genius children tend to have more tantrums because they have such big thoughts and can't express them yet, so that's comforting.)

He speaks even more clearly now, and it's really fun to see what he has to say. My favorites so far have been "Innish Nuf-Nin" (English Muffin), "I need" (usually followed by "milk", "snack", "pie" ... see the pattern?), and "Yep" (his answer to almost everything, especially if you ask him if he wants to eat).

He's started recognizing letters and numbers. He really likes the Restaurant Grades and will shout "A!!!" when he sees them out the bus window. Over the weekend we were at Emily and Zoe's house, and while in the elevator he shouted "Four! Five!" as the numbers changed on the elevator sign. Then he pointed out the A, B, and C on the apartment doors. The current pool at work is to guess which grade he's going to skip.

He knows some shapes -- Skare (square), Fry-angle (just like Chuckie from Rugrags), Cer-Cer (circle).

He's getting more into singing. Right now his favorites are ABCs, the Potty Song (sung to the tune of Go Tell It On the Mountain, and "Deep in the Heart of Texas".

We're also learning very important little boy things like peeing on the potty and jumping in puddles.

Also, Momma coming home is the most exciting thing in the world.

He went to visit Baby Eleanor and learned that while Mommy goes crazy for babies, they're pretty boring. They just sit there and sometimes cry.

The more exciting part of that trip was Baby's first Friendly's.

Other news, baby's hair is once again out of control. I think I may need to bite the bullet and take him to the barber again. We have a photo session with Janna from Capture Our Moments for his birthday, and I don't want him looking like a ragamuffin. Mommy is having the same problem (hair being out of control), and a strangely similar problem getting to the hair dresser (I can't sit still for that long). And now that I think about it, Daddy's having that problem too. Maybe the kid barber can just cut all our hair at the same time?

We are also one month away from breastfeeding for TWO YEARS!!!! It's not consistent and really only in the mornings, but it truly saved us during a few of these weird teeth-hurting, ear-pulling, can't sleep nights. He also likes to talk about it, which is the cutest thing. He'll get up and I'll hear him telling daddy,
"Daddy. Ro-Ro Momma boo-boo."
"Oh, you had boo-boos with momma?"
"Yep."