2 Year Update!

You have been having so much fun in New York with Nana and Papa, where we have been spending most of your last month of being 1 year old.  You were away from Daddy from a couple weeks and I was so excited for him to come and see all of your new words and tricks.

Because we were having so much fun, I didn't keep notes about your new skills like I usually do.  Here is what I know:

• You got 3 more teeth while in NY. . .your "fill in the gap" teeth as I call them (the canines).  Now you just have a perfect row of 8 teeth on the top and 8 more on the bottom, although the canines still have a long way to go before they're grown out as much as the others.
• You've learned at least 30 new words while in NY.  I think the exposure to different situations and to other people with a different daily vocabulary has really helped with that. 
• Most noticeable of those words - colors!  You know so many colors now!  You've had blue down for a while, but now you can correctly name green, yellow, red, black, white, and sometimes pink/orange/purple.
• Your sleep pattern has really become a mess while on vacation.  You're frequently waking me up between 5 and 6.  I'm hoping that once we're home that will fix itself because this mama is tired!
• You are so stubborn and independent.  You have reached that phase where you want to do things yourself without our help.  When you're in that mood, I'll try to help you and you'll shriek "nennett! nennett!" meaning you want to do it.
• You have figured out how to clamor up onto the couches.  At least the ones here at Nana and Papa's, we'll see if you can climb on ours at home too.
• You have figured out your own way to jump and have fun, since you can't jump with your feet off the ground yet.  Instead you just collapse backward onto your bum.  You have been having fun bouncing on pillows and tramps this way.
• You said your first 3 word sentence while on this trip.  We went over to Grandma Beverly's for dinner and you asked "where nennett chair?" and were looking around for your highchair.  Since then you have said a few more 3 word sentences, although they all seem to be asking about where something of yours is.
• Your hair is insanely long.  I've been trying to grow it out because it's so fine so when it's short it just sticks up everywhere.  I'm hoping if I grow it out a little longer it will lay flat.  It makes you look like such a big boy!  While in NY the humidity made your hair all curly and cute, but now that we're back in Utah it has straightened out like normal and made it very obvious that you're in need of a trim.  You are looking pretty shaggy around the edges.

From now on I'm only going to do updates every 3-6 months, now that you're a little older.  I will make sure to write about milestones though since there are quite a few coming up in the near future.  I've prioritized them so that we only work on one thing at a time.  First comes getting you back on a good sleep schedule.  Once that's well established we'll take away your bottles (although I'm already starting to at least cut the amount in half and encouraging you to drink more cold milk at meals instead).  Then we'll work on weaning off the binky AGAIN (seems like every time we think it's gone, you get sick or something happens that requires us to bring it in again- for now I've at least got it cut back to only when you sleep. It was getting pretty bad in NY because you wanted it all the time.)  After that we'll give potty training a go and see if you have any interest in that.  You did go pee-pee in your little potty twice right before we came to NY but haven't shown much interest since.

23 month update - June

The days to 2 are flying by!  Some things about you at 23 months:

• You are understanding a little more about pretend games, although so far you can only do it with games that relate to bedtime.  For example, you like to lie down on the floor or couch and say "night night!"  Or you'll put your cars to bed too.
• Although you might like to play "night-night," you have started to resist going to bed yourself.  For the last 6 months or so it's been really easy to put you down to sleep and you've always been pretty agreeable.  We even were at a point where I rarely needed to give you your binky to go to sleep.  But all of a sudden you have been crying and whining again when I put you down.  You must be at that stage where you just want to stay awake and play instead of sleep.  So the binky has because a necessity again, along with just letting you cry it out.  I'm hoping this stage passes quickly because it has been so stressful for me! 
• You've started to accept kisses as fixes for boo-boos (although you hate real bandaids).  If you get a minor bump or scrape you'll let me kiss it and that usually calms you down considerably.
• Ever since the binky has made a reappearance at bedtime, we've been using it to bribe you to do other things as well, such as sitting down in your carseat to let us buckle you.  You just adore your binky and will do anything to get it.
• You are learning more about how to interact with the pups, both in terms of loving them and in teasing them.  When we need to run errands you will crate the pups then go in and lovingly pet them goodbye.  Other times you want nothing more than to tease Pocket by doing fake-out throws with her ball and then giggling uncontrollably at your own antics!
• You've started to sing again when you get sleepy.  You used to do this when you were a baby and I'm really glad that you're doing this again!  It's so cute!
• You've developed more of a sense of self.  You know that you are called Bennett.  The other day we were playing ball with Pocket and I was trying to teach you about taking turns.  I would throw the ball and say "mama's turn!" and then the next one I would give to you and say "Bennett's turn!"  You caught on fast and would happily say "mama!" when it was my turn, but as soon as the ball left my hands you'd eagerly use both hands to point to your chest and say "nennett! nennett!" So that I would remember that it was your turn next.  You also know which shoes/toys/clothes are yours and which belong to us.