Steven at 23 Months

Steven, at the end of this post you will be 2. I can't believe it. It's crazy, crazy, crazy! You've been acting like you're 2 for a while now, but lately you're acting like you're 13...not cool dude.

Favorite Things:

• Now that the weather is (finally) nicer you LOVE being outside. We had a chance to play in our yard and the carport area this month. We also got to take walks and play at the park a lot and you love doing those things.

• You still love watching movies. You're favorites lately are Wreck it Ralph, which you call "Ralph movie", Horton Hears a Who, and Toy Story (you love to say that Woody is "daddy" and that Buzz is "robot" ha ha!) and Brave (about the bears, you love to growl!!)

New Skills/Tricks:

• Motor skills are off the charts this month. You are running great, no problem keeping up with people much bigger than you. You are jumping all the time, over things and just for fun. It's crazy how much you can do!
• You have really been showing your independence this month. You want to decide which shirt, pants, shoes, socks to wear everyday. You are able to put on your own pants and sometimes shirts and don't want help often. Of course this asserting your independence has come with some EPIC meltdowns this month. Usually if we ignore you, you will stop on your own but there have been a few this month that have made me worried if you would ever stop screaming! I think you are really testing your boundaries and letting us know you have an opinion. (We get it dude!)

• Going along with tantrums you've really started to hold grudges this month. After a tantrum you will stay mad for a while. One time we made you take a nap when you didn't want to and 2.5 hours later when you woke up you were still mad! "Mommy go away. Mommy don't touch me." LOL you are a stinker when you want to be! and ATTITUDE.

• You've been working a lot on potty training this month. You are doing really well! You didn't have diapers except at night or naptime this month and that was only at the beginning of the month!! You only had a few #1 accidents and I think you are getting the idea of having to go to the bathroom before you have to go. #2 is not as consistent but you are getting better, we just have to catch you before you do it...Hopefully you will be potty trained 100% soon! I think you will.

Vocabulary:

• You are VERY curious about the world around you. You're favorite phrase is "what dat?" You say it all.the.time.
• You're vocabulary has exploded! We can basically have normal conversations with you now. You can tell us what you want (and what you definitely don't want), what you did that day to some extent, what you want to wear, etc, etc. It's pretty crazy. You come up with lots of sentences on your own too. You will say "milk now, juice later" which is something I tell you all the time, or you will say "grandmas today, Stephanie tomorrow" telling us where you are going to for daycare this week. It's crazy!
• Another cute thing you have been doing is when you are trying to get a point across such as "juice" and we say "Do you want some juice?" You'll respond with "O-tay" in a tone of voice like it was our idea to begin with. Like "well if you say so..." ha ha!
• You can really understand about 99% of what we say to you. I can ask you "Did you have fun at Grandmas?" and you will respond "Yeah, I did. Fun" I can give you simple instructions to go get your shoes from your drawer, etc and you can do it.

Big Events:

• We've been doing a lot of playing outside this month which has been super nice. The only really big events were we found out you are going to be have a little brother. You are pretty excited!