Happy 22 Months Troy!

In less than two months you will be two years old. Two years old!

 

You love Ella, but y’all are not very good at sharing things. I definitely struggle with how to teach a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old share toys. We’ll get there though. : ) You and Ella have a lot of fun chasing each other, singing together, and hiding together. You love to mimic Ella, and it is really cute! Speaking of your singing, you have started singing quite loudly during services. I love it! You sing so loud that several people have commented that they hear you during the service.

You continue to talk up a storm, and you have the sweetest little voice (as long as you aren’t mad!). Even your animal noises are so sweet sounding. You’ve started saying “yuck” and “shoowee” when we change your stinky diapers. We feel like you are finally starting to turn the corner with being more able to handle situations. For instance, you’ve been a lot better in the car lately, as well as when we are out shopping or eating. You still get frustrated and mad sometimes, but you really seem to be able to handle being tired a little better than in the past. You’ve also started doing a lot better during church services. We don’t always have to take you out, and you even fell asleep on me once during the service (which is a major deal!).

This month you have a new favorite food: yogurt. You ask for it ALL the time, and get upset when we don’t have any. Most of the time, the yogurt generally ends up in your mouth when I let you feed yourself, but one day I left the room and came back to the scene below. It was pretty funny! You’ve gotten a lot better at using utensils this month, and you love to use a fork and spoon when you eat.

You have been able to climb for a little while now, but your confidence in climbing has really grown. For instance, when we are at Chick-Fil-A, you instantly climb straight to the top of the playscape, and are even pretty good at climbing down. You’ve also figured out how to climb up some steps by actually taking steps (rather than climbing on your knees).

Signs you do: more, finished, milk, hungry, thank you, please, thirsty, sleepy, bath

Words you say: No way I can even count or name them! You say so many things!

Animal noises you make: chicken, duck, cow, dog, horse (you’ve been loving horses lately), frog, pig

Body parts you identify: nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, head, hands, belly, teeth, tongue (you love to point out your teeth and belly)

Favorite foods: You are a pretty good eater, but you can still be pretty finicky at times (although I think it is getting better). Generally your favorites are yogurt, cheese, peaches, beans, chicken, and crackers.

Favorite activities: walking, running, and tip-toeing to explore everything, especially following Ella or chasing a dog; mimicking Ella; reading books; watching Mickey Mouse or Finding Nemo or Cars; taking baths; playing with balls (you love to throw any kind of ball); playing outside; playing with toys, especially talking on the phone or putting things over your head or playing with the kitchen stuff; trying get any electronics or drinks you can spot.

Troy @ 21 Months

Ella @ 22 Months

Tot School: Week 8

-Ella is currently 22 months old-

Check out what we did in Tot School last week!

We took the week of Thanksgiving off from Tot School (we didn't do anything official), but we got back into our activities this past week.

• Letter B: We started working on learning the letter B this week (Ella can now easily recognize the letter A everywhere!). We focused on "B is for Butterfly" and Ella really enjoyed coloring butterfly pictures. There are a ton of great ideas for the letter B on the Confessions of a Homeschooler blog. Many of her activities are still to advanced for Ella, but we were able to use a few of them, and I look forward to using more as Ella continues to learn.

• Christmas/Winter Activities: This is Ella's second Christmas, but it is the first one that she is really old enough to learn about some Christmas/Winter things. We've been learning about snowmen and Christmas trees. Ella has been coloring Christmas trees and snowmen all  week long. I found a bunch of coloring sheets from the Crayola website. 

• Shapes: Ella has been doing great with her shapes! She thoroughly enjoys doing her shapes puzzle I made from the COAH blog.

• Life skills: We decided to give Ella a Christmas present early so that she could have some practice with opening Christmas presents and learning how to act during present-opening. The Christmas present we gave Ella was a Melissa and Doug latches board. This "puzzle" has different types of locks/latches on doors that open up to reveal different animals.

Waiting for dad to open it up!

Cheesy posing with her present picture:

Happy 22 Months Ella!

Happy 22 Months Ella!

This milestone is hitting me pretty hard. I'm realizing that you are almost two years old! As we are nearing Christmas, I'm remembering recent Christmases and it seems like only yesterday when I was pregnant, waiting anxiously through the holidays for you to arrive. Time has passed so quickly, and you are growing into such a sweet little girl. The day you turned 22 months old (a Wednesday) was your first time in the two year old Bible class. It was bittersweet that you are already old enough to move up! I know you will really love being in the class though.

I don't think a day passes anymore when I'm not amazed by something you say. Your communication continues to expand, and you are making more and more "sentences." You frequently speak in phrases now, rather than just single words. Every day you grow in your knowledge and understanding of the world around you. This month you finally started saying "I love you" and it melts my heart. You've also started saying (actually speaking the words) a prayer with us.

I think you have always been very inquisitive, but this month, you've put words to your curiosity. You frequently ask "What's that?" or "Who's that?" I'm not sure I'm ready to for all these questions, but I certainly appreciate that you want to know more about everything that is around you. All the Christmas decorations that have appeared in the past week or so have given you lots of new things to question. You like snowmen and the Christmas tree.

You have started really asking for the things you want now. One of the funniest things is how you ask for some cereal. You'll go into the kitchen, get a small plastic bowl (what I use sometimes to bring your snacks in the diaper bag), bring it to me or your dad and say "cereals!"

You started singing this month, and it is incredibly precious! Before now, you'd interact with music by doing hand motions or "dancing" but this is the first month you've actually sung along. You sing the line "As she's walking away" from the Zac Brown Band song, but you sing it "Ashy walking away!" We think you might think the song is talking about your friend who you call "Ashy." :)

You still truly love Troy, and you show concern if he is crying. In fact, you'll say "Troy crying!" One day you said "Troy crying," then you faked a cry and said "Ella crying!" It was so funny! You've also started directed me to put Troy in his swing if you need me to get you something when I'm holding him by saying "Troy swing!"

Favorite foods: peaches, banana, guacamole, tortilla, eggs, broccoli, noodles (especially with meat and red sauce), chicken nuggets, bread (rolls), crackers, cookies (animal cookies), rice, cereal

Favorite activities/games: Coloring (probably your most favorite thing to do right now), anything that involves putting things in things (like balls in a bucket),  puzzles, running around the yard, reading books (like Clifford, the Big Red Dog, Where is baby's mommy?, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?,Goodnight Moon, That's How Much God Loves You, and The Foot Book)

Ella @ 21 months

Ella @ 20 months

Ella @ 19 months

Ella @ 18 months

Ella @ 17 months