I am a sucker!

You are only 20 months old and you already know how to get me to give in to you. Daddy usually puts you to bed but he has been traveling so I have been doing it as well. In the past when you were fussy, I would tell you we were going to snuggle. I would hold you in your chair, we would rock and I would sing you a song. Being that you are a parrot (repeating everything you hear) you have started asking me to rock you. When I go to put you in your crib you ask "We snuggle?" I give in because it is adorable how you say snuggle and I know you are not always going to be this attached to me. When I tell you it is time to go to your crib you ask me for a song. You have started saying "Tinkle Tinkle Star." So. Darn. Cute. Tonight you put the palm of your hand on my face and said "I love you." It melts my heart but man am I in trouble.

You have started screaming very loudly in public places. Tantrums are a regular occurrence and you get very mad when you don't get your way. When I tell you have to do something you often tell me, "Don't want to!" At Target we told you that you could walk but you had to hold our hand. You refused to do that for more than 2 seconds so we put you back in the cart. I never thought I would be THAT parent. The one who had a child who was having a major meltdown in a store. I am officially that parent.

We are still amazed at your vocabulary and all the funny things you say. Your memory of past events is amazing. Every single night you talk to me about the "axdent" (accident) that Nana and Papa had in their car at our house. You tell me Papa's car went boom, that it was stuck in the rocks, that the car got a boo boo, that Vinnie had to come "fix." It is amazing how much you remember.

Our kitchen is in the process of being remodeled and the first time you saw it with nothing in it you stopped, said ut oh and asked me "What happened?!" When your Daddy came back from his business trip you took him into the kitchen and you asked him "what happened?!"

You constantly call for your Nana and Papa. You adore them and they think you are pretty funny. You love Papa's cane. When he is not around you say, "Shhhhh, Papa is sleepin." You ask for Nana all the time and when you do see her, you get ridiculously excited. I love seeing you with them. I am glad you love them so much!

I Wasn't Finished….

You have a tendency to need something when I sit down to write this so I did not get to finish the last entry.

Lately you have started saying things are "too loud" and putting your hands over your ears. The hands over the ears are nothing new but you say "Too loud" and "Im scared" a lot. You used to love the vacuum but now you freak out and say Vacuum TOO LOUD. I feel bad for you!

Last night I sat with you before bed a little longer than I probably should have. You have been crying for me any time you go to bed and usually I don't give in, but last night I did. We sat in your chair and we snuggled for about 30 minutes. You kept talking to me, saying every word you could think of and you were trying so hard not to have to go to bed. I know you won't always want me as much as you do now so I sat with you and enjoyed every sweet moment of you wrapped in a blanket and saying "hold ya mama?"

You continue to amaze us every day with how smart you are and how it only takes you one time to learn most things. You keep bringing us books, telling us "read books" but then you take it from us and say "I do it." You opened the Goodnight Moon book the other day and you kept saying "Great green room telephone." I was amazed. I know you aren't actually reading it but the fact that your remember the first page is pretty impressive. 

You want me to play tractors with you so I suppose I need to listen. I love you so much!

20 Months

This morning as we were driving Camden and Torrin to school, you said "Bye brothers! See ya!" It made us all laugh. Then today I was cleaning and you grabbed the mop and said, "I help you Mama." I absolutely LOVE that you come up to me, put your arms up and say Hold Ya? Or Hold Mama? Very sweet.

Yesterday you were 20 months old. 19 Months did not sound too old, but 20 months sounds WAY too close to 2 years old. How is it possible that you have been in this world for 20 months? As trying as you can be (usually only to me) you make me laugh and I love you so much! You were in desperate need of a haircut and thankfully you allowed Nana to hold you while you got it cut yesterday. You were not too happy but at least having Nana there made it all better. Here are some before and after pics:

You are Hilarious!

You are turning into such a funny little guy! I love seeing what you say and do. It seems like every day you are talking more, learning new things and continuing to develop that big personality. Strangers comment on how smart you are and how big your vocabulary is for only being 19 months old. When people ask you questions, you understand and you respond to them. Sometimes I have to translate but overall they understand your response as well. 

Last night we went to dinner with Nana and Papa. As I mentioned before, you LOVE them. You get so excited when I tell you we are going to see them or when they walk in the door. Lately, you have been referring to me as "Dani" which is understandable because Camden and Torrin call me Dani. You heard Nana call Papa "John" and last night you wanted his attention so you kept screaming JOHN over and over. Nana and I found this to be pretty entertaining. Yesterday you said peek a boo for the first time. You have been playing peek a boo for a long time but last night at dinner you said it! You think some words are hysterical-like dune buggy and especially "boobies."

Lately you have been coming up to me, putting up your arms and saying "Hold ya Mama?" I pick you up, you put your head on my shoulder and pat my back. I love these little moments with you and I am hoping time slows down a little bit. You are growing up way too fast. 

The other morning you had your first bloody nose. I felt so bad for you. It was all over your face and on your blankies. I said Oh no! You are bleeding! All day long you would tell me, "I'm bleeding." You take in everything and you really love to repeat things. Also, it amazes me and those around you how you remember things. For example, a few days ago you would not nap for me and you were a challenge. I wound up crying and every day now you tell people "Mommy was crying." Anytime Mickey barks, you said, "Mickey barking. He sad." I also love that you are trying SO hard to count. Every time you try it is always 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10….then it starts all over again. 

The other day (March 3rd) you heard me making a phone call. The person on the phone asked my name and I said "Danielle Forrest." You kept walking around the house saying Danielle Forrest. I think I have mentioned this before, but I LOVE when you put your palms up, shrug your shoulders and ask WHAT HAPPENED?! You have been following it up with "I broke it." You dumped your entire bin of cars the other day, got up, walked around for a little bit, came back and saw all the toys on the floor. You looked at me, said "Ut Oh! What happened?!" 

You have to have two of everything. Especially blankies. You tell me you need two of them. You have also started doing things and saying "I help you!" I call you honey sometimes and you repeat it and say Oh honey! 

I think the best moment from this past week was on February 25th. I put you in your crib, said goodnight and that I loved you. You said Mama? I responded Yes? and then you said Love You. SO cute. 

Although you cause me to cry (only because I feel like I am completely failing as a parent) I love you so much. You make us all laugh and we just adore you. You are such a cute and smart little boy!!

The Things You Do

I only have a few minutes to write but I wanted to write down some things you have been doing lately. You are seriously entertaining (exhausting but entertaining) and you keep us all laughing. Because you had not been walking yet, you are still in physical therapy every Monday. Your therapist is Barbara and she keeps saying how sweet you are and that your "vocabulary is unbelievable." You do talk a lot and you say the funniest things. Here are some of the latest things you say and do:

• When we ask you where your brothers are you say "Camden, Torrin at school. With backpacks." 
• You constantly tell me that your teeth hurt. You say, "Mama, teeth hurt."
• Today when I asked you if you wanted more to eat you said, "No thank you!"
• You are always climbing on me and giving me hugs. I love that you put your head on my shoulder and pat my back. 
• At bedtime I ask you for a kiss. You tell me "this way" and go to the end of your crib. Sometimes you will give me your mouth to kiss but other times it is just your forehead. The other night I said kiss mommy's lips and for some reason you think a fist is lips. Now you make a fist and say Kiss Lips? 
• You were constantly saying Abu Dhabi. We finally figured out you mean BMW. Now you are starting to say Mmmmmm W. 
• Today you were in the big chair and I was in the kitchen. You peeked up above the cushion and said "I see you Mommy!"
• You sometimes say "I so happy!"
• You are a total parrot. You repeat everything we say. Today you said Oh Shoot and Oh Whoops! The other day you said sh*t after I said it. I need to watch my mouth! Nana taught you the word boobies and you think it is SO much fun to say!
• You are walking around a lot more. You think you are pretty darn cool!
• The other night Nana and Papa were over for dinner. We gave Papa his margarita and you said Booze! I try it! You always say "I try it" when you want to eat something or do something. 
• When you see a picture of something you like in a book, you lick the book. Your latest favorite is the picture of the ice cream truck. You see the ice cream and say I try it, then lick the book. 
• You are still obsessed with your Nana and Papa. As soon as we pull into our neighborhood you start calling for them.
• You LOVE tractors lately. You play with them and when you see them you say Ooooooohhhh Tractors!

You are screaming for me in your crib. I need to go get you! 

19 Months Old

You are 19 months old today. Time is going by SO fast (as always). You have such a big personality and you make us laugh. Just this past week you have really been showing your funny side to Daddy. He says you are turning into his little buddy. You keep putting words together to form sentences and it is hilarious. Yesterday you hugged your blanket and kept saying "I so happy." After putting a toy on your head you said, "Aww, I cute." After you took a few steps you stopped, clapped and said YAY! You are not lacking in self confidence. 

I also adore that you give me hugs more often. When I am really lucky you will kiss me. It is always a wide open mouth kiss but I will take it. I love your hugs. You put your head on my shoulder, then pat me on the back and say Awwww. As challenging as you are, I love this age. I just wish I had an ounce of your energy. 

Although we are not supposed to have you face forward in the car until you are 2, Daddy cleaned out the car and put your seat in facing forward. It is like a whole new world opened for you. You say Oh WOW and look outside. It makes us laugh. 

You are still not feeling well so we are headed to the doctor. You were supposed to have your weight checked anyway today so I called them and rescheduled it for 3 p.m. so we can get your ears and nose checked. It might just be your teeth or a cold but it has been over a week so I want to make sure. 

Funny Boy

Once again, you are sick as can be. I guess I should not be surprised since your Dad and brothers all had a cold last week. It was only a matter of time. You have a bad cough and I hope this passes quickly. You keep sneezing which is something you have never really done before. Tonight at dinner you got very mad at me for squirting saline in your nose:

I can't say I blame you. It is not fun but I need you to be able to breathe. I tried sucking the snot out of you but you screamed your little head off and refused to let me do it. I hope it comes out on its own and you don't have massive stuffiness. 

Although you are really sick, you were pretty good today. The past few days you have been much better behaved. You make me laugh all the time. Today you were Mr. Chatty putting words together. One time I asked you if you pooped. You looked at me, shook your head up and down and said, "Yes, I did. I pooped." Creating sentences is something new for you and today you said a lot of them. When I told you that you were being a good boy you said, "I'm good. I'm nice." You also found a tissue on the floor, informed me that it was "more trash" then took it over to the trash can and threw it away. Although you can be quite the challenge, you are so much fun. I love your personality and the person you have become. You get SO excited about the smallest things and I admire that about you. It does not surprise me because your Daddy is the same way. I just wish you did not get excited about things like dog food. You go into the laundry room, take pieces of it, put it in your mouth and then tell me it is Mickey's food and that "it's good. Mmmmmm." 

In other news, you took your first real steps on Saturday! Daddy told you to stand up and in the middle of the floor, you got up and walked to us and your brothers. You did this all weekend but you have had no interest since then. You started physical therapy on Monday. Your therapist's name is Barbara and she kept saying how adorable you are. I would have to agree. She noticed your feet roll inwards and that you have low muscle tone. We are not sure if it is because you were breech or because of genetics. We had to get you orthotics for your shoes and you are supposed to wear shoes all the time. We went to the mall last night and got you new shoes. You were trying to figure out how to walk in them but Daddy had to help you. SO cute!

You were far more interested in the balloon they gave you. Today you were excited when I told you I needed to get your shoes. You asked me, "new shoes?" then told me you wanted them on.

I may have said this before, but I should probably stop keeping track of the things you say. You talk all the time, and you are a little parrot. You repeat everything we say. I keep trying to write it all down but you do so many new things every day that I might need to give up that task.

I love you sweet boy. I hope you feel better soon!