Paul Thomas: Things to Remember, Month Twenty-Two

LP's second birthday is just around the corner!  We've decided that for his birthday we're going to get LP a "big boy bed" and are also going to move him into the spare bedroom so now we're making plans to decorate that room as it hasn't been touched since we moved in (and comes complete with hideous bright blue paint and an aquarium themed wallpaper border).  I'll share some details of the direction we're going in another post!

Meanwhile, here are some things to remember about Paul at age 22 months:

1.  Little Paul (generally) has very nice manners.  I LOVE that we usually don't have to prompt him to say please and thank you.  Paul and I both think that having good manners is very important and I'm so happy that we've been able to get started right with LP.

2.  He's started exercising some independence when it comes to what he wears every day.  "No shirt" he'll say, indicating that he wants to wear something different.  Or "No sandals- sneakers!!" he'll yell.  We still maintain the final word (yes, you have to wear pants to go to day care) but if he'd rather wear his Elmo shirt than his elephant shirt- go for it.

3.  Our little man has been mainly a vegetarian (with the exception of chicken nuggets- so I guess he was a nugget-arian?) ever since we moved away from the grossness that is pureed meat in a jar.  Per doctors orders we've made sure he gets plenty of iron and vitamin D through other foods and through a daily vitamin which has been fine but it's been somewhat of a pain to have to make 2 different dinners if he won't eat what we're having.  We had meatballs a couple of weeks ago and when he refused to even try one I told him it was dinosaur food and he gobbled them up.  Success!  We had meatloaf later that week and he ate more of it than I did!  Yes, I lied to my child, but it's for his own good (and mine!).

4.  LP only needs to see/hear something once to remember it.  They showed a walrus on Sesame Street the other day and 2 days later Paul happened to wear a t-shirt he has that has a walrus on it (I think it's a beer logo or something).  LP pointed directly at the animal and said "walrus!"  Smarty pants.

5.  LP's best friend and shadow is our dachshund Gabby.  She follows him everywhere and he rewards her by covering her up with his blankie when she's on the couch and petting her head while saying "Nice Babby!!"  He's in it for the love, she's in it for the dropped Cheerios.  Whatever.  It works for them! (and it means that we NEVER have to clean food up off the floor- Gabby usually gets it before it even hits the ground).

6.  LP loves to wash his hands.  He's tall enough to climb up on his step stool in the bathroom and reach the faucet.  He asks me for soap and then rubs his hands together under the water.  Then he says "bear towel Mama!" and I hand him the bear shaped towel Nana made him.  He says "dry dry!" and then runs out of the room.

7.  Little Paul is getting better every day with his physical abilities.  He's started running around the backyard ("Paulie running!  Babby running!") and thinks it's soooo funny when Daddy races with him.  He's also started jumping (which looks nothing like jumping yet, more like falling on the grass) and kicking balls.

8.  There's not much middle ground lately between complete independence and being glued to Mommy or Daddy.  LP is either playing nicely by himself or all up in our personal space, usually bossing us around "C'mon Mama! Sit couch!"

9.  I've been taking LP to storytime at the library most Friday mornings for quite a while now.  He hates it when they play music and sing ("No Pokey!" he'll say when they do the Hokey Pokey) but at home and on car rides he's totally into the "Wheels on the Bus" and the "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  He's started doing some of the hand motions too and we can hear him at night through his monitor singing himself to sleep, "wheel bus round round."

10.  His imagination is starting to run wild which is so fun.  Planter boxes become train tracks, piled up blankets are hills, boxes are tunnels, etc.  He's always acting out little stories with his trains ("Thomas stuck.  Gordon help.  Help Gordon!  Help!  Thomas good. Thomas fast."

Yup, that's the good stuff to remember at month twenty-two.  And honestly, there's not too much bad stuff.  Sure, he's started using the word "mine" quite a bit, and he often says "no way!" to us, especially when it's time for jammies and bed, but in general he's a well-behaved little guy.