22 Months Old

Happy with Monkey

Moody with Monkey

Noah turned 22 months old last week and boy has it been an interesting month.  I'm not sure if the "terrible twos" are upon us or if Noah is having a hard time transitioning to the more lax summer schedule, or both.  Some days he'll wake up just fine: smiling, cooperative, happy.  Other days, he'll wake up super cranky and the answer to everything is "No Mommy" or "No way" or "Go away."  Just recently he woke up crying, saying "No Mommy, go away" and then cried when I actually went away; this cycle continued for at least 20-30 min.  Then when I finally got him out of bed he would start crying every time I tried to get him to do something.  I think the picture above is from that day... He was so out of control that I finally decided to take him on a stroller ride because that usually calms him down.  We strolled around for a little while, and though it didn't exactly put him in a better mood, he was at least able to be calm.  Earlier in the year we had decided to keep him in daycare until the end of August because of my pregnancy (we would've had to pay a penalty to pull him out earlier but would have saved some money still) and I am so glad we made that decision!  Not just because of the tantrums every 5 minutes, but also because the heat makes it difficult to do anything but stay inside; at least at daycare they have activities going on all day long, as well as very powerful A/C.  I've also been experiencing a lot of back pain and fatigue from pregnancy so it's nice to not have to deal with a crazy toddler at the same time.  Yesterday I had a hard time just standing up for more than a few minutes!  I don't recall having these issues with Noah, and I definitely was feeling pretty ok overall until just recently.  I hope it isn't like this the rest of the pregnancy because I don't know if I'll make it to August 10!

Noah is talking more and more and starting to string two or three words together.  He has been using this new skill to boss us around.  He often doesn't like it when we're relaxing while he's playing so he'll say "Mommy/Daddy no lie down!" or "Mommy/Daddy off chair!"  Another favorite is "Mommy/Daddy get up!"  "Mommy/Daddy milk, please" isn't one of the combos, though.  Have to work on that.  On the more positive side, Noah is also developing more personality and remembering more events these days.  He likes fooling around and often will say "Noah funny" after doing something silly.  When he does accomplishes some task, some times he will say "Good job, self."  We recently started getting him familiar with the idea of using the potty (he's a long way from any sort of real potty training) and one day we found a bug in his potty.  I have no idea where it came from because living in a condo, there aren't too many insects around, but ever since then, he'll randomly say "buggy in potty."  We also started swim class last week and since that Friday, when we mention playing in the water, he'll say things like "pool" or "fish, green fish" because he played with a green fish toy in class. 

Another fun thing is that Noah now breaks out into song randomly - on the changing table, during lunch, while playing with toys.  He sounds tone-deaf when singing and only really gets out maybe 75% of the words and lyrics, but it's enough for me to know what he's singing.  His current favorites are the ABC's (which he calls ABCD), Twinkle Twinkle (which he calls Winko), Wheels on the Bus, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider - though at daycare they also sing a version where it's the Big Big Spider, and this is the one that Noah insists on singing.  He doesn't like the itsy bitsy one even though it's the exact same song, just with different sized spiders.    

It's so funny the things he takes in and holds on to, because he sure isn't holding onto the times when I tell him to not put his hand in his drinking cup or to not play with the cable box.  I find that it is really difficult to get him to do something without some sort of manipulation.  When he runs into his Cozy Coupe and slams the door shut in order to avoid a diaper change or putting on his shoes to go out, we have to coax him out of the car every time.  We usually employ one of two methods: bribing him with the prospect of watching a DVD in the car if we're going out, or giving him the choice of getting out himself or being taken out.  About half the time he'll get out himself, but the other times we just have a screaming toddler who's gone boneless.

Despite all of the tantrums and difficulties though, Noah is more fun and funny than ever and it melts my heart every time he runs over to give me a hug or just wants me nearby.