23 Months

Joel is 23 months today and we cannot believe that he will be two in just a month! We are really enjoying this age--it's so fun to hear new words, hold conversations, and watch him play. I'm afraid that I'm going to look back at this time and not remember what Joel was like at 23 months, so I wanted to document some of what he is doing.

Joel's two big loves right now are his choo-choos and his vacuum. He loves to put books on the coffee table and roll the choo-choos over the books. He will then declare them stuck when they can't get over the edge of the book. The vacumm...oh my goodness. It is hilarious to watch him vacuum the house because he does it just like me. He will lift it up and vacuum the couch or the table (no I don't do that!). When I get out the big vacuum, he squeals with happiness.

He is very knowledge about potties and potty talk. He knows the name of all functions that happen in the bathroom, as well as the words tooted and butt (lovely, huh?). When someone goes into the bathroom he says pee-pee. The other day he looked in Daddy's pants for poopy. We have tried to get him to use the potty, but he hasn't actually done it. I'd like to get motivated and start potty training soon, but I'm certainly not in a hurry for that experience!

He recognizes a lot of numbers and can do some counting.

He likes to fall down and then very loudly ask himself, "Okay?"

When we go to the park, he will play on the actual playground for maybe five minutes. What he really likes to do is wander around, run, and pick up sticks, rocks, and leaves. Such a boy!

Joel has so many words I can't even think about writing them all down. He is putting together two and three word sentences, and sometimes four words. His longest sentence that I frequently hear is, "Mama, I want cereal." Some of his newest words are thank you, welcome, sunny, rain, bulldozer, digger, tractor, oatmeal, peanuts, bread, vacuum, puzzle, bunny, ela (elephant), bear, lion, ribbit, gorilla, cry, shy, heavy, cold, and treat.

Joel definitely has a mischevious streak in him. He thinks it's quite fun to climb on the chairs, the coffee and dining room table, the bookshelf, and I'm pretty sure he will soon think it's fun to climb on the counters. When he does it he will look at us and grin very widely. He is also a food thief. When I host Bible study, he goes into the kitchen and takes food off the kid's plates. Or, he will pull a chair to the counter and steal food from there.

Along with that michevious streak is also a kind heart. Whenever he hears a child crying, he says, "cry" with a very worried look on his face. If anyone has an owie, he will kiss it. He loves to hug his stuffed animals, books, and his friends. He will pick things up that belong to other people and give them back...most of the time. :) He enjoys making people smile and laugh.

We are so proud of our son and incredibly blessed to be the ones who get to raise him and watch him grow into a little boy. We can't wait to celebrate his second birthday next month with family, friends, and some choo-choos!