23 Months

Not that our son has ever been lacking in the personality department, but I think this month he has really started to come into his own. Each month I try to jot down little funnies on my iPhone and this month my notes are so long I had to really narrow down what to share. Even scrolling through my notepad I found myself smiling and giggling at his adorableness!!!

Growing up, Papa always teased Jon and Chelsea about their "panzas" (an Italian word for stomach/paunch) after meals. He has done the same with Reed on the occasions we've had dinner with him and Gran. Out of nowhere this month Reed started eating food and then telling us it was going in his panza. It is just so endearing to hear him pick up something so cute from his Great Grandfather. We count that as Italian, he also will say "bonjour" when asked to speak French, calls Giraffes "Giraffi" and Cats "Kisa" because of his exposure to Icelandic from his Great Grandma Didi, and when we let him watch TV he chooses El Perro y Gato.

The Monkey has also started to sing parts of lots of different songs and his imagination seems to really be developing. In the bath tub the other night I heard him mumbling as he poured water from one container to another, when I started listening to what he was saying he was listing baking ingredients (salt, baking powder, water, etc.). He also likes to play tea party and mixes up imaginary brews of brown, black, chai, green, earl grey, and his specialties of blue and purple tea all of the time. He even takes a travel mug in the stroller so he can enjoy his morning tea while we walk Dodger, sipping air and chatting to himself the majority of the time.

Monthly Statistics

Weight: 26.5 lbs

Clothing Size: Everything is 18-24 months or 2T. His 18-24 tops are getting a little short and if he were wearing long pants they would definitely not be long enough, but we are going to make the shorts work as long as possible.

Shoe Size: 6 and starting to get a little snug.

 

Teeth:  16  -  8 on the bottom, 8 on the top. Still waiting for his 2 year molars to come in.

 

Reed likes: Playing dress up with hats, shoes, and sunglasses, Soft Sheep and Pup to sleep with, and all his other stuffed animals to play with, balls, reading books, playing outside, Dodger, blocks, going to gym class, bath time, his Grandma and Nonna, sidewalk chalk and doing "artwork," his tunnel,  watching El Perro y Gato with Dad, cooking with Mom, anything that has to do with water, and playing with his Star Wars Bath toys aka "good guys and bad guys."

 

Reed dislikes: In all honesty it depends on how much sleep he has been getting. A well rested Kiddo equals a pretty even tempered guy, but if naps or bedtime have been going roughly so will our day.

 

Nicknames: Reedster, Reedcito, Buddy, Monkey, Dictator-tot, Kooky Monster, and Bud.

Food: His favorites remain the same and he still struggles with veggies, but loves "sauces" (purees that have fruit and veggies in them) and eats those for snacks almost daily. We've tried a few new snacks this last month including jerky, big pretzels, banana oatmeal cookies, and Mama Chia drinks/smoothies all of which he's really loved.

Communication: Reed continues to amaze us with his understanding and narrates our days most of the time.

How Reed is sleeping:  He goes to bed around 7:30pm and has been making it to around 6:00 am most mornings. We are still using the toddler night light and he sleeps in a sleep sack, with a pacifier (which I'm SLOWLY taking small cuts out of), a sound machine going, and his two "guys" Soft Sheep and Pete the Pup. He goes down for his nap between noon and 1:00pm and sleeps 2-3 hours.

 

Favorite Moment:

We are very lucky to be a family very involved in the agricultural world and for a long time Reed has known that Grandpa grows oranges, Tio grows grapes, and Dad and Pepe grow peaches, plums, and nectarines. For some reason he has really latched on to Tio's farming ability and has decided when we don't have something on hand that he wants, that Tio will grow it for him. One day we were out of tortillas and Reed simply told me "ok, Tio grow tortillas for Reed."

 

Milestones:
I used a Band-Aid for the first time with Reed.
Thanks to some hard work on Grandpa's part Reed now likes dunking his head completely below water when he is swimming.

Favorite Photo Shoot Outtake: While Reed has been great about acknowledging the baby's room - even sharing some toys and books with the baby that now stay in the room, he did not like it one bit when he turned around during our photo shoot and found one of his special quilts behind him. I tried to explain that I had just brought it in to take his picture, but he was adamant that "Laurie's blanket back in Reed's room!"