WEA at 23 Months

Twenty-three months!!!!! One month short of two years old......how did this happen?!  I'm starting to feel more anxious than I did when Walker was 11 months.  Turning one never feels as dramatic as turning two.  I mean really what's the difference between 11 months and thirteen months?  Not much....they're still babies/toddlers.  But something about turning two changes things.  It's like all of a sudden the baby days are long gone.  No more do you tell their age in months.  Soon he'll just be two years old until he's three years old.  Sigh......a baby no more.  Well I've still got one month to go and believe me I'm going to relish this last month and soak up every bit of it!  Thirty days and counting.....

Walker's 23 month milestones/achievements/random tidbits:
~his vocabulary is really expanding rapidly.  It seems that everyday he is trying to say a new word.  Today it was "sool" (school).  Other words include "bus", "star", "soos (shoes), "socks", "pup pup (puppy)", "Lilly", "sisser (sister)", "poo", "coooooold (stressing the cold since we've had some frigid days already)", "tank yoooo (thank you)"
~he can point out all facial features and most body parts
~still majorly obsessed with trains.  I finally found a plush Thomas for him to sleep with because his little ones are wooden and he would wake up whenever he rolled over onto one.  So he sleeps with his jumbo train for every nap and at bedtime.  He's even added a gigantic pup pup as another bed partner and all of these additions are starting to make his crib feel a little cramped but he won't part with them.
~he's becoming even more picky with eating.  Pretty much only things that he can squeeze into his mouth.  So applesauce, yogurt, fruit/veggie purees.....oh, and his daily Cliff bar.  He's also discovered chocolate milk so it's become a struggle to get him to drink plain, white milk.
~he can now tell me whenever he has a dirty diaper but that doesn't mean he wants to be changed.  He'll keep telling you that he has "poo" but he'll run away if you try to change his diaper.
~he attempts to put on his socks and shoes
~we're still struggling with him biting, pinching, and hair pulling.  Time outs don't seem to work because if I just mention time out, he will go sit himself in the corner and stay there until he is told to get up.  He will follow time out with a hug to whomever he wronged but he's back to doing the bad behavior within about 2 minutes.  It's a work in progress for sure.
~I LOVE that he says "tank yoooooo" all the time and almost always at the correct time.
~he regularly takes a 2 hour nap and sleeps about 10.5 hours at night.  Given the chance he'll even take a 3 hour nap but that normally means he'll sleep less at night.
~he is now tall enough and strong enough to open the fridge and retrieve his cup of milk.  This is a happy achievement----opening the freezer is not.  I often find him walking around eating frozen waffles and sometimes eating an ice cream cone.
~he still loves to be held and cuddled and he freely gives kisses.  And despite all their fighting, he really does love Savannah.  Every morning he will meet her at the bottom of the stairs with his arms outstretched yelling "sisser!".  It totally warms my heart!

his favorite toy---these teeny tiny trains

playing in the leaves

sitting in a real "dig dig" (digger)

my sweet boy after trick-or-treating

his almost daily "pop pop"

enjoying S's birthday cake

another day another "pop pop"

all he wanted to play with were the "tucks"

So now I'm off to enjoy my last baby month.  To breath in those last whiffs of babyness, to kiss those squishy soft cheeks, to snuggle a little longer, and to try to really soak up these last baby moments.  Oh how I'm going to miss these days.