A Girl Named PJ

Today Levi turns 23 months old. Next month he’ll be two.

I’m having mixed emotions about this upcoming milestone.

It’s been incredible to watch Levi’s developments (he’s changed so much this past month!). He’s becoming a really goofy, loving, cool kid, and I love being able to interact more and more with him.

However, now that he’s a kid — a big kid! — it’s getting harder and harder to remember what he was like as an infant. Sure, I have (thousands of) photos I can view and blog posts I can read about that time in our life together. But I’m finding that with each new developmental stage we reach, I forget a little bit about what happened during the previous phase. It’s like I’m so consumed with the milestones he’s currently reaching that even the recent past seems ages ago.

Do you know what I mean?

At 23 months old, Levi…

…refers to his cousin as “my baby Max”

…is fascinated with cleaning supplies like brooms, vacuums, and the Swiffer and instructs us to “vacuum floor!” with the DustBuster (he once asked JB to vacuum dirt on the driveway)

…knows that ABC are the first letters of the alphabet and tries to sing the alphabet song

…loves to dance

…enjoys my singing voice (he’s the only one!) and frequently requests songs like “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Little Bunny Foo Foo”

…is finding his own voice and sings in his crib before falling asleep and after waking up

…has been mildly cranky lately and taking extra long naps (sometimes almost 3.5 – 4 hours)

…thinks rhyming words are funny

…remember passages from books (I said “thunder” to JB, and Levi responded with “boom boom!” from the book Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?)

…uses words I don’t think I’ve said to him before like “bubblegum”

…refers to the dog as “doggie” but knows that his name is Briscoe (“Bit-go”)

…says yells goodbye to everything — people, the dog, the garage, cars, his toys, etc.

…excitedly says, “More whee!” when he wants to go down the slide again

…has a renewed interest in his toy cars and trucks after watching an episode of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood during which the children were racing cars

…builds tall towers with his Megabloks and tries to “fix” things with a wooden knife from his kitchen set

…asks to watch either Daniel Tiger (“tiger tv!”) or SuperWhy! when we let him have television time

…can walk down the stairs while holding a grown-up’s hand and the wall

…is getting much better at climbing onto the sofa and ottoman (he’s can also lift his leg very high, and I’m worried he might start trying to escape from his crib soon)

…asks to sleep with a blanket rather than his HALO SleepSack

…has added meatballs to his approved list of foods

…knows that trains say “chugga chugga choo-choo” and makes that noise when playing with his toy train

…grabs my forearm and pulls it in towards his face for a hug

 

He’s the best.

 

P.S. – Last month’s developmental milestones and a look back at Levi’s first year!