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| Paradise Falls hike |
Dear Oliver,
You are 21 months! In no time at all, you will be two! (I should get this posted before you're 22 months...)
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| Boys and their dirt! |
Here are some things about you at 21 months:
A few weeks ago, you finally,
finally started going to bed easily.
No more crying and checking in (knock on wood!), now, when we finish
our bedtime story, you walk over to your crib, lift your arms, and get
lifted in. You ask for water (
"wah-yay!") and your blanket (the
one Great-Grandma Margaret made for you), and you lay down on your new
pillow. We turn out the lights and say good-night, and you talk to
yourself for a few minutes (we can hear you over the monitor), and...
that's it.
Sleep. Beautiful sleep! You wake up, in general, between 5:30 and
6:15. So you're getting 10-ish hours of sleep at night, and take a two
to three hour nap mid-day. Not, maybe, the 15 hours the National Sleep
Association recommends, but it seems to work okay for you.
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| Looking at the Falls |
You love, love,
love the ducks that
hang out in our complex's swimming pool. When we walk Chloe in the
evening, you start quacking as soon as we get onto the sidewalk that
eventually leads to the grassy area we cut across to get to the pool. "
Wak, wak," you say.
When we get to the grassy area, you start running diagonally across it,
right up to the wrought iron pool fence, which you climb onto to get a
better view. "
Wak, wak!"
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| Watching Frozen at Grandma's |
While
we were visiting Grandma Melanie and Grandpa Rob over Christmas, you
watched Frozen. And you became Frozen-obsessed. If you could, you'd
watch Anna and Elsa on repeat, every single day. Your daycare put on a
Frozen princess party at the local kids' gym, and we went. You were so
excited to meet Anna and Elsa--until you were up next. But you won the
Frozen raffle (your first raffle at under-two! Either this bodes well
for your luck, or you've used that luck up early) and we came home with a
singalong version of the movie, a big puzzle, a sticker book, a story
book, and a night light.
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| With Anna and Elsa |
Just
this past week, you discovered The Lion King, for which I can breathe a
sigh of relief for the break from "Let it Go". Aside from the death of
Mufassa, I appreciate this movie for its equally enjoyable songs, along
with the fact that you make the noises for each animal as they come on
screen, which I find quite charming.
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| "Playing" video games with Dad! |
You
say a lot more words than you did at our last update. More signs,
too. You do a lot more trying to repeat what we are saying. Still no
two-word combinations (unless you count "up please" which is a
combination of a word and a sign). But... it's coming. I hope!
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| Airplane! |
You're
being moved up into the two-year-old room this month. You've been in
transition with three of your similarly-aged friends for the last few
weeks. You seem to love the older classroom, and definitely the bigger
playground. Also, that room is cheaper, which I like. ;) We will miss
your current teachers, but I'm sure the new-room teachers are just as wonderful. (You probably already know this from your hours visiting; I haven't met them all yet.)
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| Walking your yoyo at Christmas |
Let's
see. In the last three months you've had surgery on your right tear
duct, which seems to have been a success. You've also been sick a few
times with coughs and colds. Hopefully illness season is almost over!
These past two weeks, you've been on breathing treatments for a wheezing
cough. No fun! But you do your kiddie inhaler like a champ most
times. Thank you!
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| In the wind tunnel at Discovery Cube |
What else? You are funny. You have the best laugh and the
best
smile. You love animals. You give great hugs. One of my favorite
parts of the day is picking you up from daycare, when you run over to me
full-speed and crash right into my belly. You're kind and happy and
snuggly. You are also strong-willed and intense. You have your "two
year old" moments when nothing in the world is right.
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| Just chillin' with Chloe |
But
when you dance to "Hakuna Matata" or cheer when Sven makes it out of
the icy fjord okay, when you ask to be picked up and then lay your head
on my shoulder, when you lift up my shirt to bare my pregnant belly and
then lift up your own shirt and press your little round tummy to mine,
everything in the world is right!
Happy twenty-one months (and a few weeks)!
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| Walk the Line |
