Nearly Two... Where Does the Time Go?

{Green tongue from the candy stick Noah got to enjoy while enduring haircut #2 from Mom, who is NOT experienced and NOT very good or fast...}

Noah at 23 Months

1. He amazes us every single day with what he has learned, what he retains, how he expresses himself....

2. Noah-isms:
a. "up-a-down?" -- he always got "up" and '"down" mixed up, so he gave up and began saying this for all of it. Pretty clever!
b. "book-a-torys"-- when he wants you to read him BOOKS/STORIES... Makes me laugh and feel like singing "Book of Mormon Stories" to him... sometimes I do.
c. "e_e_a_or"-- his crazy vowel-heavy way of saying ELEVATOR, which he LOVES. It's like he killed all the consonants in his haste to express his glee at the contraption. He is IN LOVE with these things.
d. "zeeKEWT?" -- 'is he cute?', mushed together and said in a nasal-y way... Refers to his stuffed animals as KEWT, and the baby boy he sees at his babysitter's house... Among other things worthy of being labeled KEWT.
e. "ehr-ee-eer"-- 'CEREAL', another garbly, non-consonant word he loves to say and I have to remember what he means....
f. "Gamma (brief breath) house", Repeated 4x or more-- Also alternated with "Dooie....house" and "Sawa... house", depending on where he thinks he's headed. (Dooie is Aunt Juli, Sawa is his babysitter).
g. "R-D-Go?" -- 'where'd it/he/she go?' We ask this all the time, and he's taken to mimicking us. Followed by---
h. "dere-ee-is!!"-- 'there it/he/she is!'....
i. 'Mai" and "Ket"-- Lamby and Blanket, his President and Vice President of security items. LOVES those things! :)

3. Noah's daily routine, with variations here and there:
7:30-7:45 wake up 7:45-8:15 play, greet the morning, talk excitedly to and about his Mai and Ket and any other critter of his he's decided worthy of his love. 8:15-8:45 breakfast... Often a mini whole wheat bagel with peanut butter or some frosted miniwheats or some cheese and apples, or yogurt, or toast 9:00-10:00 Sesame Street 10:00-12:00 Play/listen to music/do Morning Art, run errands with Mom 12:30- Lunch 1:00ish- Nap (lasting from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs... no consistency) 3:00ish- Play some more/go to the park or other fun place/sometimes errand here instead of earlier 6:30- dinner 7:00 bath 7:30- Bedtime

4. Noah gets SO hyper when he is excited that he pretty much dances in a gallop-looks-like-he-has-to-pee kind of motion... all the while giggling and laughing a bit maniacally. It's really endearing. :)

5. He has taken to showing everything to his "Mai"... He'll hold Mai's head and turn it to face whatever he wants it to look at--- Often saying the phrase, "D-YeSEEEEit?" It is really cute. Example: One morning I went into his room to get him out of his crib, and he stood, held his Mai, and when he saw Daddy through the doorframe, he turned Mai's head to the door and said, "Daddy! D-YeSEEEit? Ya seee it?" Showing Mai exactly where Daddy was. It's pretty awesome. :)

6. Things Noah loves: EGGS. (not EATING them. Just the concept of them.) Robots. Trains. Dinosaurs. Pumpkins. Acorns. The moon. He ADORES seeing and recognizing these things, and will repeat the word over and over and over once he's recognized the item -- just begging us to acknowledge that we see said item, too.

7. Just in the last week, he has taken to snuggling into my shoulder/neck when we walk up or down our stairs. No idea why, but I melt EVERY TIME.

8. We have created a dessert fiend. He knows COOKIES, CAKE, TREATS better than any other kind of food... VERY in love with all three options. Luckily for us, we can use it to our advantage and use bribery to get him to finish his dinner... :)

9. I've given him two home-haircuts. They are not AWESOME, but not noticeably TERRIBLE either. The images above are from his second one. I thought I'd go short this time to give us more time between cuts. I am still REALLY intimidated by the job!

10. For now... I'll stop there. But I have to say that this past 6 months has FLOWN by... We've been so busy, he's been growing so fast, and it all just went by in a blur. He absolutely ended his BABY PHASE somewhere in there, and we have a full-blown KID on our hands. It's a tiny bit bittersweet, but mostly, it is incredible, and I am LOVING this time in his development. He amazes me daily. He is the best part of my day, and I know Joe would completely agree. We are so blessed to have our little trio.

Love my life!