Max at nearly 23 months

• He learns new words every day and speaks in sentences up to 5 words.

• He likes to do things his way, as most toddlers do. Heaven forbid I try to help him with his shirt or comb his hair for him, when he can do it, thank you. 

• He will steal/beg for food off of anyone's plate-the boy always wants to eat.

• Right now, everything is "Mine", and he is very enthusiastic about his use of "Yes" and "No". I see his father's and my stubbornness in him every day:)

• He is BEYOND obsessed with balls, cows, his brother, and grandpa. All I hear, all day, every day, are things like, "Mama, side (outside), play ball!", "Mama, watch black cows" (we watch cows mooing on You tube, over and over, and yes, he prefers black cows. He plays with some sort of a ball (soccer, basketball, football, all throughout the day, and we have our big, driveway basketball hoop attached to the garage for the warm days, with a small, plastic Fisher Price one in our living room, so the child never has to be more than 10 feet away from a hoop. He's at the point, he even wants to sleep with his ball; maybe he's a future pro athlete!

•  Also, everything belongs to his brother. He'll pick up something and say, "Brother's ball" or       "Brother's shirt", and when Alex is here, he pretty much follows him around, trying to do everything he does.

• He also really loves his Papa, who watches him every Monday. When we're driving, he'll say, "Mama, drive car Papa's house", which of course means, he wants to see Papa and he wants to see him now. If he sees a car that even resembles Papa's, he'll say, "Papa's car!" in a really excited voice. And at home, in his little Cozy Coupe car which is now parked in our living room, he'll get inside, and begin to "drive" away by going, "Vroom, vroom, bye, bye, Mama!", while blowing me kisses. When I ask him where he's going, every single time, he says, without pause, "Papa's house!". Of course, silly I should ask.  

• He really, really seems to like his "school" as we call it. When he switched we stopped calling it daycare because with the separate rooms (Art Avenue, Science Street, even a Gym), school seemed like a better fit, and all of the employees are known as teachers. Plus, if all goes well, he will be continuing there through preschool, so it seemed like a good time for a name switch. Each morning, including the weekends, he asks if he's going to school to see his friends and teachers, in an excited voice. He loves all teachers, and they all seem amazing, but Miss Kayla appears to be his favorite. The smile he gives her each morning is amazing. Also, he has his special friends, Josh, Carter, and Jackson, and he will talk about them ALL night! He seems really comfortable there, which of course, makes us comfortable, and all of the teachers are incredibly nurturing and supportive-just what we were looking for. I love how every single teacher, whether he or she works in his room or not, knows Max by name and will stop to talk to him in the hallway. He is so excited to go there in the morning, and as Charly, who usually takes him, is guiding him out the door, Max will give me a quick hug and kiss before quickly running to the door, saying, "Bye, Mama, teachers, school". I'm glad he enjoys it so much, even if it means he seems happy to leave me:)