Things to Remember- Month Twenty-One

I guess pretty soon we'll start counting Little Paul's age by years instead of months!  I'm still planning to keep up with my "Things to Remember" monthly posts though!

1.  Funny Man.  Little Paul has been cracking us up pretty much non-stop lately.  His laughter is totally infectious and we think it's hysterical when he gets excited about little things.  Last night Paul and I were washing dishes after dinner.  LP suddenly came running into the kitchen shrieking.  He ran over to us and said "Paulie ate dinner!!  Yay!!!!" while clapping and laughing.  Too funny.

2.  He's still really interested in reading- yay!  I've been setting up a bed sheet tent for him in the living room (draped over the stair rail and the back of the couch) and he loves to drag all the couch pillows under there and settle down with his favorite books.  His sidekick Gabby is very happy hanging out under there too, especially since there's usually a blanket for her to lie on and some Cheerios to munch on.

3.  "Silly Paulie."  That's his new name for himself.  If he does something that he deems "silly" he'll bust out his nickname.  "Silly Paulie" he says, over and over, chuckling to himself.

4.  When we're playing outside LP thinks it's funny to make Paul and I (and Gabby too!) go down his slide.  He'll walk over to one of us and say "Mama!  Slide!"  Then he grabs your pants and drags you over to the slide. 

5.  He's bossy in the house too.  The other night I was at the computer sending some emails.  He came over to me, grabbed my leg, and walked me into the living room, saying "Mama sit couch.  Book!"  Then he handed me a book and said "read book!"

6.  I mentioned before that we bought LP a little potty and have started getting him used to sitting on it.  I have to share two funny stories that have ensued as a result.   LP comes into the bathroom with me a lot so he's pretty familiar with the whole potty routine- go potty, flush toilet, wash hands, etc.  While I was at the grocery store one weekend though he went into the bathroom with Paul and was very surprised to see Paul standing up at the potty.  Paul said he kept looking at him like "Dad- what are you doing??"  Later that same weekend LP went into the bathroom with Paul again.  This time he sat down on his little potty and went to the bathroom (he was wearing a diaper at the time).  He then insisted that Paul hand him some toilet paper and wiped himself!

7.  As part of his efforts to be a "big boy" LP has started putting on our shoes when he finds them around the house.  While "helping" Mommy fold some laundry a couple weeks ago he became obsessed with a pair of Paul's socks and insisted I help him put them on.  He wore them to bed two nights in a row! 

8.  The train obsession continues.  We now take a train with us almost everywhere we go and at least one train goes to bed with LP every night as well.  His current favorite train is named Emily (aka "Emmy").  When Paul told LP that Mommy's name is Emily too LP said "no!  Mama!"  That's right, my name is Mama!

9.  Puzzles have suddenly clicked.  He used to just dump the pieces all over and then carry them around the house depositing them in various strange places for us to search out (the laundry hamper, flower pots, in between books on the bookshelf, in the computer printer).  Now, however, he gets that you're supposed to put the pieces back in the puzzle and he's gotten really good at it!  He almost always gets the piece in the right spot the first time!

10.  Now that he's a "big boy" LP wants to sit at the big table (we still give him his meals in his highchair- Mama isn't quite ready for the mess of letting him sit at the table!) and climb up and down stairs by himself (with one of us hovering close behind as he's not too steady yet!).  He wants to use the big broom to help Mama "ceaning" (aka cleaning), push the button for the garage door opener, climb into the car himself, and brush his own teeth at night (which always involves a little comedy act where I say "brush your teeth!" and he pretends to brush his hair, his ears, etc., until finally brushing his teeth).

11.  Perpetual Motion.  I'm sure everyone out there who's ever had any experience at all with an almost-two-year-old knows that they never ever sit still (unless a Thomas video is on!).  If Little Paul isn't running around in the house he's running around in the yard ("outside!  outside! shoes on!" he yells whenever he wants to play outside).

12.  The list of words that he knows has probably doubled since my Month Twenty post and he's stringing more and more words together.  This weekend he started saying "Thanks!" instead of "Thank you", he finally started using the always dreaded "mine!" and last night he climbed the stairs to the deck while saying "Bye bye!  See you Alligator!  Night night!" to Paul and I. 

We've certainly seen some evidence of the arrival of the "Terrible Twos" (although I've been assured by many other moms that the threes are actually worse) but for the most part he's just such a happy little guy.  Being able to communicate with Little Paul and actually have conversations with him has been fabulous- he's a good listener, has been behaving very well lately (he no longer throws food on the floor but instead tells us he's done and then hands us his plate, bowl, cup, whatever) and hasn't had a time out in a few weeks.  We're able to explain things to him and he understands (things like: When Mommy is done washing the dishes THEN we can go outside.  You'll need to wait a few more minutes) which is great.  LP plays so nicely with his friends, is sweet to the dogs, lets me kiss and cuddle him as much as I want, and is mostly so even-tempered.  (Cut to me sitting at my desk knocking on wood!)