Toddler update.

Joe, at 21.5 months:
 
- can sing the alphabet pretty clearly (with the exception of "M M M O P"). He can also identify about 60% of the letters, with the other 40% being understandable mix-ups (like E & F, M & N, etc.)
- can tell you how to spell his name & does it in the world's cutest little voice.
- loves to sing! If you ask him to sing, he almost always picks the ABC's. But some of his other favorites include "Baa Baa Back Sheep", "Woah Woah You Boat", & "Tinkle Tinkle Lil Star". And we recently started listening to a Disney CD in the car, which both kids are loving & starting to sing along to. Joe loves the songs from Tangled & The Lion King.
- has become obsessed with all things Cars & "Toe Stories". He can identify every character in Cars & most from Toy Story, though "McKeen" (Lightning McQueen) is certainly his favorite.
- is becoming a Band-Aid junkie. The summer heat mixed with lots of sunscreen has really irritated his eczema, so we've been covering up some of his medicine with Band-Aids so he doesn't itch it off. And now he's slightly obsessed. Of course, it doesn't help that we have both Cars & Toy Story Band-Aids to entice him.
- is still in love with oranges & milk. Also on his list of favorites: all fruits, broccoli, Oreos, cheese, graham crackers, cereal, "guckers" (suckers), & Mommy's snack mixes - I typically do some combination of Goldfish, raisins, pretzels, Teddy Grahams, or "baby mallows" (mini marshmallows).

- still wants to eat all day long. He asks for snacks every 3 minutes, I swear. We're really working on teaching him that he doesn't get to have snacks whenever he wants them, that there are specific snack times. The husband & I have been eating much healthier lately, & we're hoping to set a good example for our kids. We're focusing hard on teaching them to have a healthy relationship with food, and at Joe's age, that starts with limiting unnecessary snacking. I know him well so I know the difference between him wanting something b/c he's hungry & wanting something b/c he's bored or tired. Thankfully, Joe's easily distractable, so it's not hard to take his mind off of the requested snack (I wish it were that easy for me!)
- counts from 1-15 & truly understands what counting is (not just reciting numbers). He likes to point to things in books and count them, though he doesn't always stop counting when he runs out of things to point to.
- doesn't stop talking. Like, ever. Which means we have 2 chatterbox children. Which means my ears hurt.
- went to his first Reds game of the season several weeks ago. He had a blast! He has a board book all about the Reds that his Daddy has been reading with him, so he knows who Mr. Red and Gapper are & can even identify Pete Rose & Ken Griffey Jr. (the latter of which I'm not super stoked about, as those who know me well might have guessed.) Though he was a little excited about the baseball game, he mostly enjoyed the snacks & people-watching, just like his mama :)

- has become a little bit of a biter, which is SO not cool. I have no idea where this came from, but he will randomly bite us now. It doesn't happen that often, maybe once or twice a week. The husband & I can anticipate it, so we stop him before he does it. But poor Brooke isn't so lucky; she's been his victim a few times. We do NOT tolerate the biting; he goes straight to Time Out.
- finally understands & "gets" Time Out. He knows he has to sit on the stairs until we come back to talk to him. When their time is up, our kids have to tell us why they were in Time Out (so we're sure they understand what it was that put them there), then apologize to whomever they hurt/disobeyed. Joe always knows exactly why he was put in Time Out, something his 3.5 yr old sister can't even do. He's very quick to say "Sowwy" in a sweet little voice & give out hugs, which is usually cute enough to make me forget why I put him there in the first place :)
- got his first fat lip earlier this month. He fell off a kitchen chair & cut his lip open. He was a sad little man. Just a few hours later, he walked right into a glass window that he thought was an open door - got a giant knot on his forehead to match his fat lip. It was a rough day for him.

- loves brushing his teeth at night. He has developed a little routine of how he likes to do it. It's always "Joe's turn" first; he's just now started letting us really brush them when it's our turn. He then has to follow it up with a "dink of water" from a paper cup (which, for his age, he handles surprisingly well!)

- is sleeping so much better lately! He sleeps straight through the night most nights...until about 5-6 a.m. He wakes up EVERY morning in that hour & it's a big struggle to get him back to sleep. Once we do, however, he sleeps another hour or 2. We used to bring him to bed with us so we could all just go right back to sleep (he LOVES our bed!) But, a few weeks ago, I reached my breaking point and refused to bring him to bed. So now we're battling him, but I feel like it's getting a little better. (Unfortunately, a lot of mornings he doesn't get back to sleep until about the time that Brooke wakes up, which means no extra sleep for Mom!)
- just started saying "Nice to meet you!" And it's pretty ridiculously cute.

A few more cute pics of our handsome man from the past month or 2.