22 Months Old

Ben is 22 months old.  Since I am writing this a little late, his birthday is NEXT MONTH, which came (almost) as shockingly fast as his first birthday did.

I feel like I can officially say that this is a REALLY fun age.  His second year of life has not nearly been as easy as things were for us when he wasn't mobile - however - seeing your child's personality develop is worth all of the chasing, wiping down, whining, wrangling and frustration that occurs with a toddler.  (And wine certainly helps, too).

Ben is every bit as funny, friendly, social, and loving as I had hoped my child would be.  Ben LOVES to laugh.  He will do anything to make us laugh and encourages us to do anything that will make him laugh.  Our days involve no fewer than 5 rounds of "Where's Ben?" with him either hiding his eyes with his hands, or him hiding in his closet and opening and closing the door.  He usually will initiate this game when we are sitting in the chair in his room.  After a round or two, I will sneak up so that I'm RIGHT outside the closet so that when he opens it, it scares him - which absolutely delights him.

He loves to be tickled, chased, and to "fly like airplanes" (arms out to the side).  He loves to be outside - playing with the hose, chasing Maxwell (while screaming the most high-pitched screech at him possible), playing in his water table, walking up and down the driveway (and around our neighborhood), and playing inside one of our cars.

If we would take Ben to a park every day (which lately, it feels like we are doing!) he would be in heaven.  He loves slides and swings.  There usually is a meltdown of some sort when it's "time to go bye bye". 

The other morning we met Becca and Owen for a walk around Greenlake and a trip to the park!

"Mommy's Little Angel" and Sweet Baby Owen

He still loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider, as well as The Wheels on the Bus, Humpty Dumpty (a game involving him sitting on my legs and falling) and Old McDonald - which we play with his barn/animal set.

I feel like Ben is getting better with his obsession with our phones and the iPad.  I mean, he still is obsessed with them, but will often hand them over to us much easier when we ask for them.  Lately, Ben will grab my phone, laugh at/show me the picture of him on my screen, put it up to his ear and say "Hi! Bye." and then give it to me.  Adorable.

When we are out at the grocery store, Ben seems to look for opportunities to wave at people.  He does this short, close to his body wave, almost as if he is not fully committing to waving at someone.  Like, if they wave back, then cool - but if they don't see him, then he won't feel stupid ;)  And he absolutely loves when we check out - screens and buttons and scanners, holla!

It's amazing how short a toddler's attention span is.  Here is a quick peek into my day.  We go from happy, to sad, to running around like a maniac over the course of 60 seconds.

My mom brought over a magnetic board and a bunch of magnetic letters and shapes for Ben.  The first thing he did when she gave him the container of letters was to put them all down his shirt - which he still does to this day every time we give them to him.

His next task is usually to dump them all over the floor, pull out his motorcycle, and run them over - over and over again.

Ben is OBSESSED with trucks of all kinds. One morning on an errand, we timed it perfectly and we were outside at the exact time the Garbage Truck was driving up the street. It stopped 15 feet away from us, picked up a garbage can, and dumped it into the back. Ben was mesmerized. Now, whenever he hears a truck of any kind he will run to the window or door (babbling like crazy) and point so that we can try to catch a glimpse!

Most of our evenings, as we are settling down for the night, involve an exchange with Siri like this:

 

Ben is growing like a weed, still.  He is 29+ lbs, in size 7 shoes, and fully in size 2T/24 months.  His understanding of everything is growing so quickly, too!  While verbally, (at least in English) our conversations are still a bit one-sided, Ben clearly understands most of what we say to him.  Simple questions are almost always answered with a nod or shake of the head (and sometimes also a "yeah!" or "NO MAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", too) - which makes our daily routines a LOT easier than before.  Physically, he is such a runner/climber/jumper that it amazes me that he isn't completely exhausted by 6pm, (because we definitely are).

Finally, we taught Ben how to "say" I love you - by pointing to his eye, his chest and then at someone else.  I seriously melt now when he will come up to me, out of the blue, make sure I am looking at him, and do this.  It's usually followed by a big hug - arms stretched out, clinging onto my shoulders, with his head leaned against me.  These are the moments that I would often think about when he was a newborn.  How someday, I hoped he would understand even a fraction of the amount of love I felt for him.  And I truly believe he does.