Happy 22- and 23-Month Birthdays, Andrew!

Andy turned 22 months on May 25th and 23 months on June 25th. (Yes, that means his second birthday is fast approaching!)

Here is Andy back on May 25th:

After a good meal

Swinging in the backyard with Matt

Going for a ride in a wagon

And here is Andy on June 25th:

Racing Matt on the deck

Andy is a real chatterbox. In his 22nd month he added cow, shoe, chalk, kiwi, turkey, slide, glasses, flower, yes/yeah, up, stick, dump, seed, chicken, duck, hair, swing, apple, and squirrel to his vocabulary. And in his 23rd month he added star, pizza, sink, sit/seat, two, play, straw, shirt, sky, down, see, a, shark, ride, he, inside, frog, turtle, sleep/asleep, change, my, chair, horse, neigh, all gone, and head. He hasn't really started saying a second syllable yet but in the past couple of weeks especially tends to speak with two or even three words together. He likes to say "I see" for "Can I see?" and "I too" for whenever he wants whatever Matt has or does. He will say phrases like "a ball." He does say some noun-verb combinations, usually "cat sleep, cat bed" for "the cat is sleeping on the bed" or "owl sleep, owl tree" for "owls sleep in trees." He'll also say two nouns together, as he apparently isn't ready for "and" yet: "mil wa" for "milk and water," for example. And he loves possessives: "ma car" for mama's car, "da wa," for dada's water, "ma shoe" for my shoe, "Matt cup" for Matt's cup, and so on. He can count to two and also identify that there are two of something, and I'm pretty sure he knows at least three at this point.

Andy still loves all things vehicles, especially trucks. He could drive toy vehicles and trains and watch trucks on the road and planes in the sky all day. His current favorites are fire trucks (wee ooo wee ooo) and dump trucks (dump cuck). He also likes dinosaurs (rawr). He likes other animals, too, although cats, birds, and bugs remain of most interest. Recently he has really gotten interested in owls. We often have to check rooms or the outside for owls, and he will only be satisfied if we confirm that the owls are sleeping in the trees since it's daytime. Like his brother Andy is on a big Curious George kick. They will watch the TV show and read any of the books together, and Andy likes to snuggle with any one or more of the various stuffed Curious Georges we have for nap or bed. Andy, like his brother, also enjoys Winnie the Pooh books, movies, and stuffed animals, and at least one of the various Winnie the Poohs or other characters we own will often end up in bed with him as well. (Lately a stuffed owl has been completing the bedtime buddy trifecta.)

Andy still loves playing in water and in the sand. He is slightly more cautious with climbing and big slides, but he is still fairly adventurous for his age. Swinging as high as he can is one of his favorite things to do outside. He continues to love proprioceptive activities: pushing anything he can - his shopping cart, toy lawnmowers, laundry baskets, vehicles - around, crawling through tunnels of any sort, running (through mazes in particular), jumping, climbing, digging, carrying and throwing relatively heavy objects, squeezing hugs, etc. He remains one active little guy, that's for sure.

Matthew at 4 1/2 Years Old

Over the next couple of weeks I hope to catch up on posts. I know I am a couple of months behind. Here is one I meant to post two months ago:

May 4th was Matt's half-birthday, so he is halfway between 4 and 5 years old now. In fact, he will tell anyone who listens that he is four and a half, and his brother is one and a half but will be two by the end of the summer.

To celebrate Matt's half birthday, we had some friends over for a playdate, and then we had cake and ice cream after dinner.

Matt playing soccer with a friend

Having some cake for dessert

Matt is a busy 4 1/2 year old. He still loves reading a variety of books. We have been listening to audio books in the car, which he is currently enjoying more than music. We've listened to chapter books like Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, The Mouse and the Motorcycle series, A Cricket in Time Square, and Stuart Little. Matt also loves building things, either kits or free form, and he's ready for "big kid" Legos. Matt can put together 60-piece puzzles easily and is able to do 100-piece puzzles as well.

Matt is back into dinosaurs and Curious George, but he still likes robots, vehicles (including Cars), Cat in the Hat, and Winnie the Pooh. He enjoys playing outdoors as well as inside, but he especially loves playing outside or on the playground with friends. He enjoyed his t ball experience and is looking forward to town soccer in the fall.

Matt's math skills have really picked up over the past few months. He can count - with a little prompting - past one hundred, and he can do some basic addition and subtraction. His sense of time is coming along; he can tell time on a digital clock and is working on analog clocks. Since Matt's half birthday, he has made some important leaps towards reading readiness. He is picking up the occasional word, but he still takes most of his cues from his memory and the pictures. But he still has plenty of time to conquer that skill!

(Note: Because Matt's birthday falls just after the school district's cutoff date of September 1, he will be starting kindergarten in the fall of 2019 rather than this coming fall.)