20 Months!!

My big guy is closer to his 2nd birthday than he is his 1st. Wowzers! Can you believe I'm going to be planning a 2nd birthday party soon? I can't. It's crazy talk.

This kid makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. His personality is blooming. Only around those he knows best. I think he is going to be pretty reserved around other people. He's going to be like his Daddy and keep to himself until he really knows you, I think. That may be a little hard for me to come to terms with... I've never met a stranger! We'll see though. Either way, around us, he is a clown. "Talking" a mile a minute. Running around like a crazy person. Making a million facial expressions at us. Lots of pretend play going on. We are having so much fun!

So much fun that he passes out like this.

Stats
He did have to go to the doctor for ANOTHER ear infection.. double the fun this time.. in both ears, but on the bright side, I have stats to list. As of 3 weeks ago he was almost 26 pounds and 33 inches long. He's wearing size 6 diapers, 24 month pants, 2T shirt (Of course we just bought a wardrobe of 24m shirts like a month ago.. that was the quickest growth spurt ever) and size 6 or 6.5 shoe, depending on the brand.

Words
Andrew's language exploded in his 20th month! I couldn't sit here and list all of his new words (well, I could. I'm a little OCD and do have an actual, numbered list) but I just don't feel like it. Off the top of my head, some of my favorite new words are:
Cheerios (eeeyayoos), Window (dowdow), Trash (he one morning, walked by the trash can, pointed at it and just said, "trash". Yup buddy.. sure is), Bus, Yucky (kucky), Home, House, Bot (from Team Umizoomi), Cam (cum.. one of his buddies), Boo boo (he's gotten plenty of those lately!), Hot, Cold. He's very into the difference between hot and cold. If something is remotely either degree of hot or cold... he will let you know, my friends. I don't have my handy-dandy list around, but if I had to guess, I would say he has about 30ish words. It's so much fun to hear his sweet little voice. I'm loving it! FINALLY. He's also making animal sounds (woof, quack and boooo.. which is supposed to be moooo).

Drew and his bud Cam

We're pretty much done signing, because most things, if I ask him to say it, he'll at least try. I'd like to keep up the learning process, but after he's actually saying the word.

Others
He's still eating me out of house and home. That's only going to get worse people tell me. Well then, we're always gonna be POOR. This kid can eat.
His nap is still after lunch and lasts between 2 and 3 hours. He has pushed bedtime back to 7:30. It could probably go even later (ex: It's 8:05 and he's in his crib playing and talking to himself), but Trey and I are such old farts and go to bed at 9. Not kidding. Our alone time is dwindling.
I can't think of any firsts off the top of my head besides all of this talking. We tried swim lessons, but he keeps getting these ear infections, so I've put a hold on that. His obsession with parks have gotten stronger. I think that if I pushed him out the door and let him go on his own, he could probably find his way to them all. If we turn the opposite way from them in the car, he spazzes. Yes, it's about as much fun as it sounds. Errands have gotten harder. He wants to play, not shop! If I try to go into the PX he RUNS towards Starbucks, to get his milk of course and then directly to the play area behind the PX. When I crush his dreams and make him actually go into the PX instead, shewwww.... Tantrum of all tantrums occurs. Who wants to battle that? Not this mama!

Milk and crackers at Starbucks. This is totally my fault. My not-even-two-year-old has a Starbucks obsession.

So that's what we've been up to!

Andrew baby, you bring the biggest smiles to our faces. You are such a joy to be around. You make everyone laugh, you are very sweet to your friends. You are pretty good with sharing most of your toys and let the younger ones crawl all over you without even flinching. I can tell that you have such a sweet disposition and I'm going to do everything I can to encourage that in you. I want you to have a love for people! Don't get me wrong, you have your fiery side, but all kids your age do. You are still VERY, EXTREMELY attached to me. You hate for me to leave you with anyone and will cry and cry when I do. I think we are past all of the separation anxiety phases and I've done everything I can to get you to be okay without me. I think that's just how you roll. Especially at the CDC. You lose your mind every single time I drop you off, but you are always having a blast after a few minutes. Sometimes I catch you, you can't fool me. You have also found a new love for your Daddy and ask for him all day long. I know this makes him so happy!

We love you to pieces big boy! But, don't grow too fast on your mama, ok?