20 Months

Woah... typing the title for this post seriously caught me off guard for a minute. In 4 short months and 7 days my little boy will be 2! How did this happen?! Just last week he was wiggling in my tummy.... and just yesterday I was planning his first birthday!  And now it's already time to plan his second birthday?  Yikes.
The past couple weeks have really hit me that he's getting big. He's now more a "little boy" than a baby for sure. But I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Only a few hours old...

Almost 20 months old...

 The conversations I can have with Dax now are what I feel blows me away the most. We have amazing back and forth conversations where we both understand completely what one another is saying. He's putting together great sentences, words are really clear, and he knows how to work the tonation of his voice to show a question and emotion. If he doesn't know the name of something he'll pick it up and say, "this?" until he gets an answer from one of us. Most of the time when we're in the car I'll jsut turn the radio off and talk with him. There is nothing more amazing to me than listening to his thoughts.

Daxton has such a loving heart. I know a big thing for Daniel and I both is to raise kids that are compassionate and empathetic towards others... and so far, Dax seems to get it. He has such a tender heart. He doesn't like to see others sad or hurting whatsoever. He worries about others. Daniel and I can't play fight because Dax gets really concerned. The other day at Smashburger Dax was watching a baby at the table next to us when it started crying. He started looking very concerned and saying, "baby" over and over. I eventually had to hold him and calm him down until the baby stopped. Precious. 

"Discipline" is so far so good for us. It's a word I hate to use but can't think of one to use in it's place. I don't think of it as disciplining him.... it's more us redirecting him, understanding where he's coming from, and helping him learn the appropriate ways to act. This is a big, new, scary world for him so we have to teach him the right ways to handle situations, not just "discipline" him for responding in a way that makes sense for him.   His two big problems right now are hitting and fits.  His hitting is usually a way of trying to play more so than hitting to be mean, so we just change our facial expressions and let him know "that hurts" and he is super, super quick to try a different way of playing. You can see in his face that he gets it. The fits I know are completely age appropriate. I usually just try to give him words to describe his emotions, take him to a quiet place (if we're at home) where it's less stimulating, redirect him, or just verify his emotions and then walk away and go about my business (once he sees he's not getting a big dramatic reaction from me he stops) .

My little boy has become quite the daredevil! Anything fast or high, or dangerous is something right up his alley... yikes. Him and daddy laugh... but I get knots in my tummy!  It must be a boy thing!

He's really into writing and painting right now. He also loves cars, books (this has never changed), baby dolls, his broom, phones, and balls. His love for music and nature continue to blow me away. He's fascinated with trees and birds. Music in any form, whether it's songs on the radio, a toy, singing songs, or playing instruments, is his passion.

He's a great helper!! If he finds trash on the ground he picks it up and throws it away, he has started putting his own dishes away (in the sink) after eating, and LOVES helping with laundry. He gets so excited when he sees me gathering clothes and says "laundry" super loud and will either 1) Pick clothes up and put them in the basket, or 2) take clothes out of the basket and start dragging them to the door of our garage (where the washer and dryer are).  He helps put the clothes in the washer, move them to the dryer, and then take clothes out of the drying and put in the basket. Adorable.

Super excited teacher mommy here!  This little boy can identify a circle and square! I was just drawing with chalk outside one day (and working with two and three year olds my "doodles" just happen to be shapes) and he asked "this?"  I told him once and he has them down ever since! Me and Daniel still get a little amazed each time he tell us.

Sleep is great for the most part. He's going to bed at about 7is, sleeps until 6 or 6:30, and is taking one 2-3 hour nap during the day. He's still putting himself to sleep great in his big boy bed! He has also quit taking his binky during naps at daycare (YESSSSS!) Next step will be at night.... yikes! He's in the middle of getting teeth so I'm not sure when that will happen. He just got his bottom molars (he's finally up to 9 teeth) and one other is right on the brink of coming in. Because of this we've had some restlessness at night... I'll be glad when teething is completely done that's for sure.


Well that's where our little man is now! He's getting way too big, way too fast.... but the process is so much fun! Tods and twos are my favorite ages so I'm loving every minute of it!