the wrights: 23 Months

Henry, you are 23 months old. You have little responsibilities that you help me with each day. You feed Rouge treats and get the biggest kick out of it. You're both gentle with each other in those moments (although you will accidentally kick or swat Rouge and not even know it) but she's super patient with you and knows how to stay out of the way. You can put your cup in the sink when you're done. You like to help me get Rouge in and out of her crate (Rouge jumps in and you watch and help me zip up the crate) when it's time to leave or we get back home. You are great at helping me to clean up toys with some gentle instruction from Mommy, but you're quick to catch on. Sometimes you even surprise us by picking up everything you're playing with at that moment and putting it back all on your own without me even asking!

You love, love, love to be outside and explore anything you can get your hands on. Sometimes I feel like I am begging you just to come in the door (after I've waited on you for forever already it seems) so I know you love to tear flowers apart, find sticks, pick flowers, grass, clovers, sort rocks from the grass, behind bushes and explore nooks. You love to dig around in the dirt.

You ask to color more now and your coloring has some longer, wider strokes than just lines like it used to. You don't pick your crayon up off the page as you used to you understand how to go from side to side. I've seen your latest work and you included some loops too. You like to make dots as well. You love to visit the library and help me return the books by putting them into the chute.

I've mentioned this Will.I.Am video you love to watch before and lately you have got the motions down and do those with the video and have picked up on the echoes and usually repeat at the right time if you're in the mood to do so. So cute. You're working hard to go up and down steps like a big boy without my help. So far we've had one big tumble (down 5 concrete steps...) at the playground, but otherwise you've done great! You have gone down a big boy spiral slide all by yourself and stayed upright by the end haha and this was after you climbed up the playground steps all by yourself too! I was proud and sad at the same time to see how much you're growing up!

You like to test me sometimes, but overall a you're a great listener. You're in a books phase again and enjoy being read to a lot. You love to have the same book read over and over and over again. You clap at the end of each song on the radio and get upset if I have to turn the music down to talk to someone.

You love being with people, but you also need your downtime too. You walk yourself to your nursery classroom now and you're so proud of yourself you strut down the hall (unless you're running and then you're just a blur.) You know what our church looks like and always point and smiles and say "eee" at it and get excited when we pull into the parking lot each Sunday.

You love to sit between us before meals and holds our hands and pray with us. You love wrestling with Daddy. You're in a Dada and Baba (Mama) phase right now, which is fun! We'll go for your 2 year (gasp) appointment next month, but for right now you're in some 2T separates, but mostly 3T for jon jons, etc. size 5 diaper, and size 8 shoe.

You're getting your 2 year molars and have done pretty well so far. You are taking shorter naps (an hour once a day is an accomplishment) and waking up early again (5-6am). Hoping you'll get back into your old hours of an 1.5 hour nap and sleeping until 7am...one can hope. You still love to watch the Grinch from the 1960s and is into The Cat in The Hat and Curious George on PBS as well as Sesame Street and Super Why. You can say the sounds for M,W, and Z now. You count everything in sight and make matches all the time. You're our smart boy! You are also beginning to pick up on your colors, which is fun to see you learn!