23 months

Oh, this boy. He has my heart. Here he is showing me his shark teeth - 

the only reliable way to get him to "smile" for the camera these days. I'll take it. 

He's always been busy, and that's still true. He's happiest when he has a job: working in the yard, watering the plants, running to the park, helping me take out the trash or do the laundry, fixing things with his Dad, going to get the mail, roaming our yard gathering treasures...he likes to move. It's not easy to get him to sit still, but he's getting better and some days at home he even asks to sit down and color with me. So, although I'm inclined to teach him numbers and letters on paper, we're learning numbers by climbing stairs and we sing the alphabet and talk about letters as we see them instead. It's a better system for a boy on the move. He counts to sixteen with us on the stairs, and he sings the alphabet song pretty well! He loves to sing, and it's been such a sweet surprise over the last few weeks, hearing him sing out.

He talks a lot, often in 4-5 word sentences. He tells stories about his favorite characters from books and movies. Some of my favorite new phrases are "sweet dreams", "I'm excited", "delicious!", and "be careful, Daddy" when Tim leaves for work. That one really melts my heart. He also says "no" and throws tantrums several times a day when he doesn't get what he wants. He's got strong opinions, this one. That has also been true since he was small, but he's getting more and more assertive. It's a daily challenge to teach him to be patient and accept our answer when it is "no". I don't feel as overwhelmed as I felt when I wrote this post a couple of months ago (after all, I was eight weeks pregnant - blerg) but this is a challenging stage, and when the days seem especially long I count on plenty of support and pep talks from Tim.

Michael's favorite things are: wearing his boots, playing outside, working in the yard, climbing at the park, playing with water and his ocean creatures, animals, whale sharks, cartoons, hunting for lizards outside, watching the bees in our lemon tree, wrestling with his Dad, playing with other kids, eating, and when the three of us are together. (He puts out his arms and says "guys" when he wants all three of us to have a family hug. I die every time.)

Some things he does not like (that we're working on): waiting, being told "no", going to Bible class (or anywhere) without me, being quiet, going to sleep, getting lots of attention from people he doesn't know, and being cooped up inside. It's not a long list, but we've got our work cut out for us.

We love you, little nugget! xoxo