23 Months

23 months old

With his second birthday literally around the corner, Grant is most certainly "a big guy". I put that in quotes because he will proudly tell you that he's a big guy when asked. It seems like that last month or two has brought about a lot of growing up that has left us confused as to how it happened so quickly.

What he's up to:

• Took his first real vacation - to see family in NY - and did remarkably well on a very long car ride.
• On that vacation he went to his first parade, which was a big hit with him.
• Went "swimming" for the first time (and many times after that) and loved it! My goal for next summer is to have a small pool for us.
• Not only has he used his first cuss word, but he uses it correctly. When he dropped something, he said "Damn it". When something was out of reach, he said "Damn it". You get the idea. We were advised to ignore it (first instinct being to tell him stop, of course) and he seems to have stopped saying it. For now.
• Uses some complete sentences now. "Mama, what's that?" "I get it!" "I find it!" "I find him!" (this one generally referring to the dog). You get the idea.
• Likes to try to say the ABC's by himself (but isn't very good at it yet) and he can count to 10 with prompting...but he obviously doesn't know what that means yet.
• Not much progress in the potty training. We haven't really been pushing it. When we think to put him on the potty it's always at the wrong time. But he still likes to sit there and read magazines.
• Still signs "more", "please", and "thank you". And he's using "please" and "thank you" often without having to be prompted. Now we're working on "yes, please" instead of the "Okay!" he's fond of using now.
• Only needs his pacifier at bed time now. He naps without it at school, so he naps without it at home. I like to think we're getting there (with getting rid of it entirely) but that seems like a bold statement.
• Wearing mostly 18 mo and 24 mo/2T but still has some 12 month shorts that fit him. His shoes are still size 7 but I'm thinking before too long he'll be needing a bigger size.
• Doesn't have much interest in cartoons. He'll watch them in the morning while I'm getting ready for work (used to be whatever was on Nick Jr. but now we've moved to Disney Jr. and I like their morning selection better!) but any other time of day he doesn't care about what's on TV unless it's Monster Jam. He has also started having some interest in sports stuff on TV too (hockey season will be really fun this year!).
• Insists on helping me when brushing his teeth. He grabs for his Spongebob toothbrush and says "Help? Help?"
• Loves music and looooves to dance to it. Very cute. We have little dance parties in his room after bath time and dance together (I have zero ability to dance but Grant doesn't seem to mind).
• He can never have too many stories at bed time.
• Loves anything with an engine but monster trucks are still his absolute favorite.

20 Months

Holy crap, what a week. Tuesday night Grant seemed sluggish and came home from day care the next day with a fever. The doctor said it was a virus. We went back to the doctor on Saturday because he seemed to go downhill right after we had seen a slight improvement. The virus had settled in his lungs AND his ear infection from the previous week had returned. New antibiotic and some breathing treatments. But I'm happy to report that after night after night of little to no sleep for all three of us, the little guy is on the road to recovery and we're seeing much improvement. So I finally got around to snapping a few current pictures for his 20 month post. Nothing spectacular...neither of us had the energy.


Watching Daddy clean the lawn mower

So here we are at 20 months old. It seems so weird that Grant will be two soon. The time really does seem to have flown by.

He doesn't look happy but, trust me, he is.

We started introducing the potty and his reaction to it has been very good, although we seem to sit him on it at the wrong times because he still hasn't gone in it. And the past week we haven't been into it because his fever has been so high that being without pants would have sent him into chills.

Grant is still talking up a storm, learning new words and doing even better with putting words together. I think I've heard him say "I don't know" and he's still pointing at things and asking "A's at?" (What's that). But the best thing he's said recently is...*drum roll please*...I love you! He said it! Hooray! He's also repeating things, so we're having to watch what we say. What I'm finding hysterical lately is how often he's telling Brodie "no" when he has food. Especially cheese or a graham cracker. He gets right in his face and says "no!" And Grant is still using some sign language. I'm not sure how much he uses at school but at home it's only "more" and "please" (mo' and pwease).


Brodie much more patient than we thought he'd be.

We're using time-out more often now because it does seem to be effective. Although, mean parent that I am, one minute seems to short so we've gone up to two. When I tell him that he's got time-out for two minutes he knows what to do (I'm still trying to figure out if that's good or bad) and tearfully sits through his punishment. It's pretty pitiful but it's working so I can take the tears.

That's really about it for now. We're working on the potty...and still trying to get rid of the pacifier. We're so weak. I'm thinking that my goal of having him off the paci by two years old may be a bit of a pipe dream at this point. But we'll see.

I leave you with a couple pictures of my cutie sitting in front of his favorite thing in Husband's "office". Some car posters that he's had for years that Grant absolutely loves.


Really with the camera? I just got over 4 day with a 102 fever
and you're getting out  the camera?

19 Months

Here we are, another month older. It's so funny how much a month can change things. It seems like every time I turn around Grant seems bigger and is doing so much more than he was even last week, let alone last month.

Grant has had a haircut - finally! You would think the first one would be the worst...not so much. They seem to get worse as he gets older. This time Grant screamed like we had taken him to the doctor for shots. But at least it was quick. I feel certain this girl has done many hair cuts for kids!

Grant is talking more than ever, of course. Putting more words together. And the best part is that we're understanding him more and when he makes the connection that we are understanding what he's saying and what he wants (not that he always gets what he wants) he gets this huge smile on his face. It seems silly to say, but it's kind of amazing. We figured out that he's learning sign language at school. We figured this out after a week of Grant making this hand gesture and saying something that sounds like "mo", so I told Husband that I though he was saying and signing "more". We finally googled it and that's exactly what he was doing. And when I did it back to him and said "More?" (probably more graham cracker or something) he laughed at me and looked so proud that I understood him. So Husband and I are going to make an effort to learn some basic sign language.

So, a rather silly but big accomplishment...Grant is now eating chicken! Seems like such a small step, doesn't it? But it's kinda huge. I used to have to hide meat in meals in hopes that Grant won't realize what he's eating and spit it out. And then recently out of the blue - he ate a chicken tender! And then chicken nuggets! And even ate some of a chicken sandwich I was eating! I'm pretty excited about it...in case it wasn't obvious.

I had to break into the boxes of last year's clothes so that Grant would have stuff to wear that fits him. Sad, yes? We bought him a bunch of new shorts - size 18 months - and a bunch of new shirts - size 24 months/2T - and do you know what? The shirts fit pretty well, they're a touch long but it won't stay that way long. But the shorts literally fall to the floor. They don't even touch his waist when I put them on him. He is just so skinny. Bonus: I get extra life out of last year's clothes AND I already know how cute they look on him :)

It seems like as babies grown into toddlers they become less cuddly. Less willing to sit still for a few minutes - giving you the opportunity to grab them and squeeze them just for being cute. And obviously, their tantrums become worse - although Grant's don't seem as bad yet as some of the stories I've heard - landing them in time out more often. But it seems to be balanced out lately by the big hugs I get when I ask for them. Or the big open mouth kisses that are pretty much the sweetest thing ever. And sometimes, he'll go get a book and then come plop himself in my lap - which I love. Sometimes he wants me to read to him, sometimes he just wants to browse through it and say "Wha's at?" I can't miss him being a baby anymore...because he's just so damn fun right now!

P.S.: Grant is still very much obsessed with trucks - mostly monster trucks. We've decided to take him to Monster Jam in a couple weeks. I can't wait to see his reaction when he sees the "big trucks" in person!