21 Months Old

It's hard to believe...but Daniel is 21 months old today! Just three more months and I'll have a two year old in my house...that's even harder to believe. But thankfully, I have some time to prepare myself- we're not rushing things at all. In fact, if anybody's rushing, it's Daniel! He's starting to test limits and have ideas of his own, ideas that are very different than ours- like going one way instead of the other way. Typical two year old stuff. But even so, Daniel is a wonderful, happy, silly little boy.

"Keep" is a favorite word of Daniel's. He is actually really good about putting things away or back where it belongs; the same goes for giving things to whomever it belongs and even to leaving toys inside the house when we're on our way outside- all when he is asked to. But he does like to try to "keep" things, too, and will just simply say "keep" in the hopes we'll let him keep it. (Note the bear in the picture above- perfect example of "keep", he'd just woken up and we sat him down to do the Mickey picture and he asked to "keep" the bear, so, the bear got to join in the picture fun!) At the grocery store, he loves to "keep" things I'm buying (and will even try to keep things I'm not buying of course!); he will hold the item or put it next to him, until something else interests him and he will then forget all about the first item and go for the next item! He likes to "keep" things and take them for rides in the car, and he's always great about leaving them in the car so they don't get lost. Daniel has also been known to "keep" things, such as his football, in bed very occasionally (let's just say Daniel has a very nice Daddy!); it's actually cute to listen to Daniel play with and talk to the toy he kept. I have to say, I like Daniel's word "keep" so much better than "mine", which I'm sure he'll learn eventually too.

Did you know that Daniel likes balls and trucks? Really, you knew that? Who told you? Perhaps their constant presence in Daniel's life was a hint. We are all about balls and trucks (well, really, all things that go) in our house. Lately, Daniel has gotten really good at throwing balls up and into his basketball hoop now- it's not just a slam dunk. If you turn the TV on and there's a baseball game on, Daniel's eyes are quickly glued to the screen and asking for more, more, more (this doesn't happen too often since we just don't watch much TV- but it is cute when it happens!) Daniel has also been introduced to Lightning McQueen- from the Cars movie of course! We put the movie on the other day to distract Daniel from all the pouring rain and his desire to go outside. Talk about eyes glued to the TV (for just a few minutes at a time, he's too much on the go to really sit and watch much more than a few minutes, which we're fine with and glad about). He just kept turning around and looking at me with this look of pure delight on his face and saying "car" and "more, more". I love that look of joy! It's a good thing I get to see it often...it just warms my heart.

I also love Daniel's "excited" and "silly" faces, which we've really seen a lot this month (check out the second Mickey picture above for a great example)- he smiles so big you can see all his teeth! He gets in these silly, excited moods a lot lately- I think it's because his sense of humor is really developing. And I also think he's just learning so much about how the world works- he can anticipate things and make things happen and he knows how to "be" silly and what makes us laugh. He's also developing "favorites". It's pretty awesome to watch Daniel develop his personality and interests.

Daniel's comprehension and memory continue to amaze me- both are very good. He's also been answering questions of the where and what variety and it's awesome because often the answer isn't in front of him so you know he's pulled it from memory. And I love the connections he's making- for example, in the Cars movie, I commented on how the car was getting a bath with the water, and Daniel immediately said, "wet"- he knows so much about how things work already.

He's a pretty smart little guy. He's already learning the art of stalling (we've learned we have to bring Daniel's water cup up to bed with us, because he'll ask for it!). His other method of stalling is giving me a hug- for example, when I want to put him back in his car seat when we're running errands and he's not quite ready, he'll just say "hug" and gives me the biggest neck hug I could ask for- it's so sweet and melts my heart. And then when I say, okay it's time to sit now, he does it again. So there we are standing in the parking lot, hugging. I'll take my hugs anytime! I like this method of stalling!

Daniel's latest game is "asleep, awake". He will put his head down on the pillow, floor, couch, stuffed animal, etc. and make snoring sounds and then he will bring his head up and say "awake". He says "awake" if you pretend to sleep, too. And talk about being smart and making connections- yesterday when I put him down for his nap, he wasn't too willing, though he was very tired. He wanted to get up and go outside, so I told him, first he had to sleep and when he wakes up we would go outside. He immediately played his game (snore, awake) and smiled. He knows how cute he is! I thought this was a pretty clever application of his game anyway.

Daniel is getting good at putting his clothes on- he helps get his arm up and through the arm holes all on his own now (we just put the shirt over his head and then hold out the shirt so he can find the holes and he finishes the rest!). He also tries so hard to put his shoes on- but still needs help with that.

Those pesky canine teeth are still very pesky. The top two are quite visible now, and the bottom ones are not far behind. They are all taking their slow time coming in...but Daniel is hanging in there. It hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been too bad either. We're rolling with it. Daniel is still our happy, busy, silly little guy and we just can't believe how big he's getting and how fast he's growing and learning. He never ceases to amaze me!