I remember when Jack turned two and it felt so incredibly strange. It was like I was used to having a baby and now I had a big kid and I didn't really know what to do with him. Graham is a different story. I feel like he's been on the fast track developmentally his whole life so I have kind of thought of him as an aaaaalmost two year old ever since he hit the 18 month mark. The fact that he has grown up so fast has made me appreciate his "baby qualities" even more and I am really trying to savor these last few months of him really being a baby.
The biggest development this month has been in Graham's language/musical abilities. He has added so many new words and even a few phrases to his vocabulary (e.g. "I don't want to.") He is also counting to 10 and can sing numerous songs- ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, God is so Good, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Veggie Tales song, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, He's got the Whole World in His Hands, This Little Light of Mine, the list goes on. A friend heard him singing ABC's and asked me if I had been working on it with him. I'm not sure I would call it that. We do a ton of singing around here and I try to always encourage him to join in, so yes, he's been exposed to these songs over and over again. But, I had no expectation that he would actually be able to sing clearly at this age so I wasn't trying to train him in that way. He just truly loves to sing. That's something he and Jack have in common.
Some other milestones and memories from this month:
- He still loves books and he can "read" books that he has heard over and over again by flipping the pages and reciting the words. He loves books with Elmo the most.
- Speaking of Elmo, Graham is fascinated by Sesame Street and loves all the characters. He likes to do Cookie Monster's voice and he loves saying hi to Elmo. But it seems he has a special place in his heart for Ernie. We were at Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago and Graham saw an Ernie doll and latched onto it immediately. I tried to show him the Bert, Big Bird, Cookie dolls but he was not interested in them. He cried when we had to leave Ernie there. I'm not sure why he loves Ernie so much but it was very sweet! Ernie may have to come home with us at some point, probably at Christmas.
- Jack started back at school this month so Graham and I have more one on one time and we are really enjoying it! One of his favorite things is our play group that meets every other Wednesday. It consists of six of my friends and their kiddos who are all around Graham's age. Such a fun time for him to do what he enjoys and not what Jack enjoys!
- Graham is obsessed with light. He wakes up in the morning and says, "Light!!" and then urges me to take him to the switch so he can turn it on. Everywhere we go, he likes to point out the lights. There happen to be lots of lights in the world, so this can be a never ending thing. "Light! Light! Light, light, light! ...... LIGHT!!"
- Lately when I ask Graham, "Who's boy are you?!!" he likes to tease me by naming off everyone else but me... "BB's! Grandad's! Daddy's! Brubbers!" One time he even said, "Light's!" And then he finally says, "Mommy's!" and gives me a big hug. He really cracks himself up sometimes.
Graham continues to make us laugh with his silliness, and bring joy to us with his sweetness. As Jack would say, "He's our cuuuuute, sweeeet baby!"
