22 Months

Crazy how time flies. I didn't even realize it was the 14th until sometime this morning! Colton has had another busy month learning through play, making discoveries, and having fun outdoors. He LOVES to go outside and take walks, exploring nature all around him. He'll pick up rocks, sticks, pine cones, point out flowers and squirrels (which he calls "dogs"), and say hi to cars passing by. He also enjoys looking at the small brook we have by the clubhouse in our condo development and throwing sticks & rocks in it. Colton really likes trucks, too. He gets very excited when he sees one zoom by, everything from the mail truck to the ice cream truck. I don't think he realizes yet that the ice cream truck actually has cold, delicious treats on it. He just seems to like the fact that it plays (awful sounding) music. :)

This past month, he appears to have gained an ever greater understanding of what we say (oh boy). He observes everything we do and copies it. Whenever it's time to pray before dinner, Colton will stop what he's doing and fold his hands right along with us until Gregg finishes praying. He sorta grasps the concept of using a napkin, too. He knows that you need a napkin to wipe your face- only he holds it in his fist and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand! He knows what taking a bath means and starts gesturing towards the baby bathtub when we say "it's time for your bath". Colton also understands what it means to put something back or go back to the place that we were before. He can now pick out our car out of all the other ones parked in our lot and reaches for the door handle to get in.

Colton began saying the word "this" about four weeks ago, and uses it all the time to ask for what he wants. I keep having to play the guessing game to figure out which "this" he means. I'll hold up an object and he'll either shake his head no or mumble what sounds like "yeah". Then I make sure I say something like "oh, you want the cup." Colton also just said "car" for the first time this morning, and it sounded like he said his cousin's name (Kate) yesterday when we were at my in-laws'. The only sentence he says right now is "Hi dog".

He's taking bigger risks with climbing, which freaks me out. Colton climbs from the couch to the tv cabinet, then stands on top of it to reach the window blinds, because he likes to open and close them. Another thing of his is climbing on top of the nightstand drawer and jumping off of it onto our bed! He is seriously a little monkey.

I've started thinking about plans for his 2nd birthday already. We'll probably do a Sesame Street or Elmo theme. I can't believe that he'll be 2 in only two more months!!