23 Months

This photo is SO Owen these days. Independent, in his PJs, reading to himself. He has one of his favorite books "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" which happens to be a book my siblings and I adored from our childhood.

Owen has become so full of emotions. Happy, sad, playful, mad. While most of the time he is such a fun little guy, he has his moments of crankiness where he's very needy and clingy (especially to mommy). He's communicating more and more and we are quickly figuring out what he wants... doing just about anything to make him happy. He still rules this house (for now) but we are trying to enforce rules and borders.

23 Month Milestones:

• Owen recognizes names of familiar people (especially animals). His good friend at school is Carter, and what a fun surprise it was to run into him and his Daddy at the Home Depot! He is always excited to see neighborhood pets: Ziggy, the cat, and Choco, the dog.
• His scribbling with "Colors" has gotten more elaborate. We have been trying to re-enforce that colors go on the paper. So far so good as the walls remain causality free!
• Word and phrase development has been huge. It still amazes me that he's able to recognize and say all these different kinds of trucks: tractors, concrete mixer, fire truck, backhoe, etc. He repeats a lot of what he hears. Sometimes it's not always easy to make out "Owen talk" but some of his favorites are: "Owens' food", "This Way", "All Right", "Oh Shit" (funny, but really not a good one), "A Mess".
  
• Now requests books to be read to him. He'll even read on his own on occasion which is just awesome!
• Gives kisses by leaning his cheek to me. I haven't figured out how to get him to return one, but he recently asked for a kiss for the first time, and it just melted my heart. Can there be anything more charming than a little boy asking his mommy for a kiss?
• Says "Thank You" without even being prompted. We are still working on "Please"!
• Loves being in his jammies and hates when it's time to change out of them.
• We are working at sharing. I don't see what happens at daycare, but I am very vigilant about making sure he doesn't take toys away from other children at playgroup. He looks at me when he tries to do it, so I know he's knows it's wrong.
• Loves to build forts with Daddy.
• Still is a bit shy around new people and places (or people he doesn't see regularly). For example he'll get "hello" and "bye bye" from people at the grocery store, but he's usually too shy to say anything back.
• Loves "tool" projects with Daddy.