Landon – 23 Months

In a few short weeks L.J. will be two years old. Two! I don’t know how it’s even remotely possible that he’s almost two.

L.J. continues to be his sweet, lovable self but he most definitely has opinions and he can now verbalize those opinions. The development of speech has been one of the most amazing things for me to watch as a mother. We’ve gone from words to short phrases to the beginnings of a conversation.

Each evening on the way home we talk about family – he asks about Poppa, Nana and Tay-T (Uncle J.T.). He’s usually asking where they are, and we talk about them being at home in South Carolina. This has been going on for a while now, and he’s gone from asking where they are – “Poppa?” – to understanding that they aren’t here – “Poppa ah-how?” (Is Poppa at home?).

Playtime

L.J. now asks us to come play with him, which is pretty adorable. I’m grateful we have a big playroom that’s a comfortable room to hang out in. He’s currently very into planes, trains and automobiles. He loves cars! He has a whole little basket of Matchbox cars and it’s always interesting to see what he does with them. Love watching his imagination at work.

Reading is still big on his list. Barnes & Noble was a huge hit last weekend! We will most definitely be making return trips. His new favorite is Pete the Cat. I was bummed to find out that Pete the Cat does not come in board book form, but we’ve been enjoying some of the stories and songs on YouTube.

He still doesn’t care a bit about any TV show other than Bubble Guppies. And now we not only have a favorite show, we have a favorite episode. He doesn’t watch Sesame Street but he does recognize the characters. And he calls all of them Elmo.

Playtime firsts this month included playdough. We got a little container as a party favor and he was pretty intrigued by it. The lid made an animal stamp in the dough and he asked us to do it over and over one evening.

Sleeping

S.O.S. All-Points Bulletin. Help!

Sleeping has been rough this month. He’s been waking up pretty consistently in the middle of the night. We’ve been trying a few different things to curb the habit and I think (/hope/pray) that we are turning a corner.

Eating

I remember feeling a bit smug when L.J. first starting eating and would try anything we put in front of him. Yeah, those days are long gone. He eats pretty well at school, but at home is a totally different story. We almost always give him a plate of what we’re eating, but more often than not it gets supplemented with something we know he’ll eat. I always said I would never have a short order kitchen – well, a hungry kid is a guaranteed 3 a.m. wake-up call. So there’s that.

And toddler pickiness is just strange. He’ll scarf macaroni and cheese in shape form, but will just graze at it in normal elbow noodle form. He’ll eagerly eat fresh rotisserie chicken, but if I pick the meat and make another dish out of it he won’t touch it.

Misc

L.J. has an interesting quirk. He likes to walk around with his left shoe/sock on and his right sock/shoe off. Keeping his right shoe on his foot is quite a challenge, as is keeping track of where he puts the shoe when he takes it off. It is always the right shoe, too. Odd but endearing.