Daniel at 22 Months

Daniel has developed a fastidious side lately, and not only is he very good at putting things back where they belong (shoes, clothes, toys, stuff around the house), but he likes to stay personally clean now too. He loves to play outside, but it really bothers him when his hands get dirt on them. I've shown him how to dust his own hands off, but he also loves to dip them into the water table or hose to clean them all the way off.

He gets very excited when Michael comes home from work. He will watch out the window until he sees Michael, and then let out a little shriek of joy, and start tugging at the front door handle. Michael often hands him the mail when he comes in the door, and Daniel loves to bring this to me, like my own personal messenger boy. Daniel always loves to be a helper!

Daniel has been going through a long running clingy phase. Any time I am out of sight, he starts yelling, "Mom? Mama!? Mom!" until he sees me again, or I answer. Even if hes with the kids or with Michael, he will do this. Its half cute and half annoying. We spend our days playing marco polo around the house, and if he hasn't seen me in 30 seconds or so, the yelling commences.

A new word this month, is "ok." Like I will give him a direction, or explain something to him, or scold him for doing something he shouldn't, and his response is a quiet, "ok!" Its very, very cute. He also said his first little sentence the other day. He dropped a fork at dinner and then said, "uh oh! Pick up!" And then climbed down and picked it up off the floor. Another cute word that he says is "pop" when referring to bubbles. I think this is because Nora used to say, "bubble, bubble, bubble, POP!" Over and over again, and he now thinks that bubbles are called 'pop.' Whatever the reason, its really cute! And finally, a brand new word that he just used for the first time today, is, "please?" He uses this when begging for something, and he is so cute, its REALLY hard to resist. So far I have given in to about half of his pleading requests because he is just so stinking adorable!!

Hes been a big time streaker lately. If hes not wearing a onesie that snaps in the crotch, you can be sure that he will get naked at some time during the day - often multiple times. I cannot tell you how often I am redressing this kid! His absolute favorite thing to do is to climb into his crib, completely strip, throw everything to the floor, and then cuddle his puppy, naked as a jay bird. He cannot climb back out, and hes not quite ready for potty training yet, so if he goes missing for any amount of time, I have to go searching for him, so that hes not peeing freely into random corners of the house, or in his bed!

He still loves to point out body parts and for me to tell him the names (and he repeats them). Though lately, hes also started honking his, mine and everyone else's noses, while saying, "honk, honk!" He does this all the time, and gets great amusement out of it. So I suppose it shouldn't have been a big surprise when I was getting dressed the other morning, and he honked my nipple, of course while cheerily saying, "honk, honk!" Michael was there to witness it and he burst out laughing, as did I. Neither of us expected that. Daniel sure is a funny little guy! In related news, nursing is still going strong. He likes to ask constantly for milk, both by saying, "milk?!" and signing 'milk' at the same time. He does not like to be told 'no' for that request, something that he is often told, in fact! I am trying to reduce the number of daily feeds, in anticipation of trying to wean him this summer. We will see how that goes! I will need luck and patience methinks!