23 months

I can't believe this will be my last post before my baby is TWO! Yikes! It has definitely been an interesting month for us - full of laughs, disciplining, non-stop talking, bouncing off of the walls, becoming a daredevil, I guess typical boy-like behavior!
He is still a great sleeper, although his bedtime keeps getting pushed and somehow is now almost 9pm every night, but at least on most mornings he will sleep until at least 8am and sometimes longer. He also naps about 2 or 2.5 hours in the afternoon. He has been taking his pacifier just at nap time for the past two and a half months. I guess it's about time to start thinking about getting rid of it.
He talks and talks all day long. He can count to five on a regular basis now. He also just learned the lyrics to the whole song of Rock-a-bye Baby. I was in shock. We have accidentally developed this nightly routine before bed which can absolutely not be broken now. It starts with Wes and Ryan reading a few books in the living room. Then, I take Ryan into his room and we rock while reading this Pirate book, and then we must sing Rock-a-bye Baby no less than 5 times. We finish up with prayers which he has learned he can buy more time if he keeps adding other people to the list to be prayed for. Well, this has now turned into a MUST every night but it has also indirectly taught him the lyrics to the song. Yesterday, I was telling him to sing it because I knew he had the first two lines down and then he just kept going until he finished the song. It was too cute - I need to record him singing it.
Another one of his funny things lately has been, when something is broken - he loves to say how it needs new batteries. With all the battery-operated toys this kid has, it seems like one of them is always in need of new batteries. So ever since we fixed one of his toys, anytime something doesn't work as it should or that is it just off (whether it be a lamp, the tv, a toy, you name it) he says its "bwoke" and "new batwees."
He is always making messes wherever he goes. Sometimes it is just his stuff, but other times it is an actual real mess of food, dirt, etc. I think he likes to make messes just so he can scream - "Maaasssss" and then proceed to run into our utility room and tell me to get the "buster" (dustbuster) down to go clean it up. Pretty sure this is a new game of his.

We have started to enforce some level of discipline. He has been testing me nonstop these days (and usually it's only me he does this to). I tell him not to do something and not only does he continue to do it, but he exaggerates whatever it was he was doing to the nth degree. So we have decided on a time out mat in his room (it's just his rug infront of his crib). He must go sit there for 2-3 min with no toys, lovies, etc until we come and get him. It worked the very first time and now he knows exactly what he has to do. A lot of times he will cry and it breaks my heart, but afterwards I feel like he learned his lesson. So we will see.
He has such a big heart and is so incredibly loving. He doles out I love you's all the time now (although, sometimes not in the correct circumstance). The other day he told my Ipad (also known as "the game") that he loved it. He then told my kneecaps about an hour later that he loved them too. I look at it as that he just has a lot of love to give because he more often than not uses it correctly and tells all the people in his life how much he loves them and blows kisses to them.
Last week, they had Go Texan day at his school and we don't own boots, but we did have a plaid button down - so this is the best we could do! "Ahh, too bright!" (good thing I know how to take a pic without the flash because he did not do well with flashes!).

Notice his new kicks in the pic above? Well, this kid gets stuck in his ways and FAST. The past few weeks he has ended up wearing the same pair of shoes every single day. Well, they are kind of out of season now and definitely getting snug, so I decided before school last week to try and break in his new shoes. It was traumatic to say the least. It started with huge tears rolling down his face, then he proceeded to open all the drawers in his room looking for his "old shoes", then he ran into the utility room and tried to scale the dryer because we usually keep his shoes up there. After about 15 minutes of fighting and trying to explain that the old shoes were too tight, he won and ended up going to school in a teal shirt and plaid shirt, with knee high socks and big black shoes. It was a sight. We quickly fixed the issue later that day, when we told him the only way he was going on a bike ride was to wear his new shoes. Now, he'll at least wear the tennis shoes - guess we'll have to work on the Sperrys later!

We are thinking of starting gymnastics this month to try and focus some of his craziness and burn some energy. I hope he loves it because I will love watching him :)