22 months!

Another month, another update. This month our big adventure was a five-hour road trip to attend my cousin's wedding reception. Andrew was so good during the drive. Somehow he slept most of the way there and about half of the way home. The rest of the way we kept him entertained with a steady stream of Wiggles songs. The wedding reception itself was hard on him, partly because it didn't start until past his bedtime. About an hour in, the poor kid was sitting on Daddy's lap, leaning back and sucking his thumb, and quietly saying "woo hoo" over and over. LOL! We ended up leaving by 10:30. And we paid the price. His sleep that night was horrible and he was up for the day by 4:00 a.m. It was nice to see everyone, though, and I made promises to come back soon.

What else? He had his first meeting with the hair clippers. He sat quietly and calmly on my lap the entire time the stylist was working. I have a hard time adjusting to his short hair after every cut — he looks so much older. I look forward to when it grows out just a bit. Still, he's pretty darn cute. Just look at that face!

Andrew at 22 months: He's going through a very shy phase, apparently. It takes him a few minutes (but just a few) to warm up to visitors to our home. Sometimes he'll say "hi" or "bye" to strangers in public places, but only if he's secure in my arms or in his stroller. He won't walk in public places at all. If I try to put him down on the sidewalk, for example, he refuses to take a step and cries for me to pick him up. I took him to the park one nice day and he wouldn't let me put him down. I don't get it. I hope it's something he grows out of soon. It makes me kind of sad.

Eating: Some days he eats more than I think possible and some days he eats very little. His current favourites seem to be pasta, yogurt, goldfish crackers, cheerios, and applesauce. That's about all that he will eat reliably. He doesn't seem to like cheese anymore, whereas he used to flip for it, and he no longer loves his veggies, either. He does still love his milk, thankfully. He often chews stuff up, spits it out, then puts more of the same in his mouth, chews it up, spits it out, etc. Very frustrating. I found a way to prepare his oatmeal so that he'll usually eat it -- mix it with half a banana and a half-teaspoon of molasses (a Wee.licious recipe). We also had some success with Wee.licious's spinach smoothie, which is awesome!

Play: He is all about the cars. He kept stealing dinky cars from daycare, so we finally caved and bought him some of his own, including three Cars cars, and they are now his favourites. He has a FP garage/ramp that he can play with for ages. We're starting to read more regularly again, which makes me very happy. He still loves his monkey, but he doesn't feel the need to carry him around anymore... because instead he likes to have a car in each hand when we go out. He does still love monkey when he's really tired or upset. He loves to climb up onto our bed and jump and flop around (with me as spotter, of course).

Cuteness: Sometimes he asks what we're doing ("Whayoodoin', Munny?") over and over. I just love his little voice. He's also been saying "wait a minute" and "hold on." Today he kept saying "Listen. Hear that? Owls!" Not sure what's up with the owls, but it had me cracking up all day.

I may have gotten overzealous with the classes this spring. I guess I was just so sick of being cooped up indoors all winter that getting out every day seemed like a great idea. So, starting in April, we have swimming on Mondays, "creative playtime" on Tuesdays, and storytime at the library on Thursdays. He's still going to daycare on Wednesdays and Fridays and still doing very well there. It's going to be a busy and fun couple of months.