Porter @ 23 Months

If I could sum up Porter in one word it would be this: BUSY! I don't think he sits still for a minute! The only time he'll be still is when he wants to sit in your lap and read a book or when he knows he's been naughty and is giving you a cuddle to say "sorry". I grabbed the camera to capture Porter's personality one morning and what he's doing at 23 months:

 Starting to say cheese ("deese") for the camera

 "ooh!"

 Is so curious about everything

 Is usually stuffing his face with food--from the garbage, the floor, chewing through wrappers to get food out of the cupboard. I can't even imagine what it will be like when he's a teenager.

 Snuggling with mom--love his beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes

 Loves to look outside

 Brooke wanted her picture taken too

 giving hugs

Love those juicy cheeks--I can't help kissing them

• can say thank you (dank-yu), shoes (joos), more (mo), want it (wannit), go, eat, car, bath (bah), ball (bah) daddy, mom (usually sounds like maaahhhmmm when he's yelling for me in his crib), cheese (eese), yucky (ick), done
• signs thank you, more, please, water, milk, bird, fish, all done
• makes monkey, cow, dog, cat, lion/dinosaur, and car sounds
• can point to all his body parts
• dances when he hears music
• likes to go up and down the stairs like a big boy (standing up rather than on his knees). If the steps are close together he can do them himself, but usually he needs to hold our hands as he goes up/down
• loves to push things (the garbage can, his high chair, laundry baskets) around the house
• likes to take his pants and his diaper off (oh boy!)
• He is pretty obedient. We can tell him to throw something away or put something away and he'll do it. He's been helping unload the dishwasher for a while now. He's familiar with time-out and usually a stern warning from dad (not mom, he just laughs and runs away) will set him straight when he's acting up.
• When he's excited about something (like he's waiting for his sippy to be filled and can hardly stand to wait any longer) he'll stomp his little feet.
• I can definitely tell we're entering the 'terrible twos' with him. We recently ran out of milk and I wasn't planning on heading to the store until the next morning. Porter kept asking for milk and getting uspet when I didn't get it for him. No matter how many times I showed him that there was no milk in the fridge he got so upset and could not be consoled. We ended up running down the road to wal-greens for a gallon to make it through the rest of the night--it was just worth it to me.
•  He's also starting to be a little daredevil and climb up onto everything. He can climb into his own high-chair. He has built in shelves in his closet and will climb up on those.
• gives hugs after he's been in time-out to say he's sorry
• empties the tupperwear cupboard daily
• is very social loves nursery--if we even mention the N word during church, he thinks it's time to pack up and go and will try to escape the chapel

I actually really like this stage. It's hard and frustrating (for both of us) sometimes, but his excitement about life and his sweet little personality that's starting to emerge makes it all worth it. I was so nervous to be the mom of a little boy after a pink and frilly girly-girl but it's been so fun! We make car noises and zoom around the house together and just have a great time together. I can't believe my little guy will be two in just a few weeks!