Busy. Busy. Busy. But still napping for three hours and (mostly) sleeping through the night with the occasional hiccup, so I can’t complain.
22 Months:
You’ve made the leap to really try and use words to communicate rather than gesturing or crying. You’ve had lots of words but none of the “key” ones to get your needs met until more recently, and now you’re adding more short phrases and continued thoughts. Just tonight you said “up…bed!” Asking me to pick you up and place you on my bed so you could snuggle. We hear a lot of “where go?!” and you’re stringing together “up above the world” and “eyes and ears and mouth and nose” when singing. If we asked you who we are and point to each family member you will name us (you’ve been saying our names for a long time but would never name us when we showed you pictures or pointed at each other until recently) and when we ask you who you are you’ve started to say Greer! “Gear” 🙂 Mimi still comes out like “may” but you are trying!
Part of the bedtime routine is to say “mom is going night night” and then repeat listing each member of our family. If we skip this you will immediately start asking, “mom? crew?” until we recite it. When you’re ready for a meal or snack you don’t really ask for food — you simply climb into your booster and pat the kitchen table! You comprehend zillions more than you can articulate which is frustrating for everyone at times, and yet we can feel that we are so close to some breakthroughs in this next season.
You fought your first cold in quite a while this month, might be working on some molars?? but are thankfully still rocking that three hour nap and sleeping most nights for about 12 hours. The dog obsession is still going strong and you’ve amassed a little collection. Just like Crew with his garbage trucks, each seems to be special to and equally adored by you.
New words: “yes” (instead of “k”); help, moon; hi/bye moon, downstairs, upstairs, bed, blocks, car, heart, and working hard on “please” and “iPad”. You’ve shortened our names to just “mom” and “dad” already — I’m sure because that’s what Crew calls us.
23 Months:
You LOVE TO HELP with any and all tasks. I’m trying to give you busy work as much as real “chores” because you are noticeably happier when you have something to do. You’ve developed an intense love for Playdoh and really any pouring/sensory play will keep you occupied for some time. It’s amazing how you can have little patience for some tasks, but infinite amounts for others.
New words: “again” (instead of saying more for everything) “this” (pointing at anything you want but don’t have a name for) “pop” (bubbles/ poke a dot books), your own version of “toothbrush/toothpaste” (complete with brushing motion), “cup”, “blue” (identified correctly), spelling our names out loud while scribbling (with a couple correct letters) “d….d….d…dad! C…d…crew!” You will spend minutes at a time studying printed text (magazines, a bible, etc ha!) You are CERTAIN you are reading.
24 Months:
More short sentences. “Open door” “bye guys” “up bed” “it’s COLD!” when going outside (where is Spring?!) and trying to count to three “one, two, five”. Still TONS of rambling but more and more real words sprinkled in – it’s like you can’t slow down to just speak simple first sentences — you have too many thoughts to get out all the time. “House”, “tree”, “cold” and “bow” are some of your newest words and your favorite song to sing is “head SHOES knees and toes” 🙂
You are trying hard to jump and like to walk on balance things – like a curb or a path of magnatiles. You love going to the park and are so ready for more outside time. In the meantime, we’ve started some swim lessons with your friend, Gigi — after several months off you are picking up some new skills a bit older this time – your favorite is to blow bubbles, and you are much calmer backfloating this time around. You are suddenly very clingy this month and also expressing dislike for being dirty when you need your diaper changed. (I’m hoping this means potty training will be easy!) You are either very happy or very unhappy – the mood swings come and go in a flash. Look out, two 😅
You love Frozen, drawing, all jewelry, yelling at Alexa to play music, yelling over everyone when we’re in a conversation, snuggling, being included in everything, putting on everyone’s shoes, and eating shredded cheese by the fistful. Happy TWO to my tiny best friend, you are a whole personality right now, but we can’t imagine this house without you in it.<3
