23 Months Old

Daniel is 23 months old today! One more month until he's "twoo"- Daniel can now tell you how old he is (actually he learned pretty quickly after I mentioned we were practicing last month), and yes, there are extra o's the way Daniel says it- TOO CUTE! He will also hold up both index fingers for two- I also love that. I also love Daniel- every bit of him!

So, one big update for this month (and actually I think it started last month) is that Daniel can now reach door knobs. Our house is now in lockdown mode. Front door, garage door, if it has a pull down handle- he's free unless it's locked! Turning knobs are still just out of reach, for now- thank goodness.

Another big skill to note is that Daniel recognizes when books are upside down while he reads (again, I think he was doing this last month, too). He will study the book briefly and then flip it right side up. He is doing this with great accuracy, too. Daniel rarely looks at upside down books without correcting it at some point. What a great early reading skill! I'm one proud mama.

Daniel loves saying "hi" to everything and everybody now. He says hi to just about everybody at the grocery store. We'll even find the driver in the car next to us grinning and we know Daniel must be waving and saying hi to them! And he says hi to our pets, to his toys, to his own reflection, to just about anything. It's quite cute.

Cute "hi" story: We were at a mom's group meeting the other day, and Daniel was eyeing another kid's toy cars and trucks (we did bring ours, too), and he just stood there without trying to take it or anything, but he waved at the truck and said "hi truck" to indicate his excitement and interest. And you know what- that kid shared his truck! (The kid was also 4 years old.) Daniel was sooo excited! I was so impressed that he didn't try to take it and that he just simply said hi to it.

Daniel also uses the word "bye" to indicate he's done with something lately, whether it's a toy, video of himself on the computer, or even a person (or even that meeting we went to- about ten minutes before it was over, Daniel was cleaning up all the toys and saying "bye kid"; clearly he was done and ready to move on). It's kind of funny sometimes. He uses the word "done", too. But a lot of times, it's "bye". I get a kick out of it. I'm just glad he can communicate with us so well and tell us what he means in so many ways.

I also have to say how proud I am of Daniel's sharing. At that meeting, he was sharing his trucks so nicely. When we have playdates, he shares the toys so well. He's just doing so well- everybody always compliments on his sharing. Love it!

Daniel brushes his teeth SO well these days- top bottom and all around, and he even let's me help him from time to time. It's at moments like these that I say to myself, see he'll do it when he's ready, just relax. If I could go back in time...I'd tell myself that over and over. So, let's hope I remember this when the next "thing" comes along.

We're also back to doing baths just fine these days. We went through a period of about a month where he just wanted NO part of taking baths. He'd play with water outside and all, but not in the bath. Now, he's fine with baths again. Daniel's even got the whole tipping his head to wash the shampoo out of his hair down, too!

Daniel is also VERY chatty these days. It's especially cute in the car (unless he's shouting "mama lap" because he doesn't want to be in his seat!) and it's super cute when he talks before he goes to bed at night. I love sitting down here in the family room and listening to him chat away on the monitor- I wonder if he's sitting, lying down, which animal he's talking to, and so on. Wish I could be a fly on the wall in those moments. But then, these are moments that are JUST for Daniel- he needs that, too. It also reminds me that there will be many moments that are just his that I won't be part of- like school- and I'm in NO hurry to give my moments up just yet. Even if he is almost TWO!!