23 Months Old!

Hi Family and Friends!

It's my first blog post as a BIG brother. And boy am I a good one! I knew having a baby sister would be fun, but I didn't realize it would be this much fun! Can you believe next month I will be T-W-O?? Mommy says she starts to tear up whenever I say that. On top of becoming a big brother, I've been very busy working and learning new things. Here are the highlights:

• I now hold my own bottle, and if you know anything about me, this is a HUGE deal. Up to this point, I would sit in mommy or daddy's arms and play with a toy while they fed me the bottle. But once baby sister arrived, they explained what a big help it would be if I could hold the bottle myself. They were so excited the first time I did it - they kept telling me how proud they were. Now I sit on the couch next to mommy while she's nursing Emerson and hold my bottle.
  
  
  
• People can't believe how much I've grown. Everyone notices - from my family members to the nurses at my doctor's office. Everyone remembers when I was such a peanut and now look at me! I can't wait to see how much I've grown at two year check-up next month!
  
• Besides growing, I've also been working on my vocabulary. As you know, I can say "choo-choo" and "mow-mow-mow" (lawnmower). I can now (somewhat) say "bebe" for baby and "air-pay" for airplane. I also say my own version of "what's that?" when we are looking at my words book. When mommy or daddy asks me, "can you say papaw?" I am starting to try and put two syllables together for papaw.
  
• Using sign language is fun. I can now sign more, please, all done, mommy, daddy, baby, and eat. That's pretty much all I need, right? =)
• Because I've grown taller, I can now reach the countertops when I stand on my tippy toes. That means mommy and daddy have to be real careful what they leave in my reach (mommy is infamous for leaving knives towards the edge of the counter...oops)!
  
• I am becoming so strong. When daddy asks me to flex my muscles, I throw my arm up to show my biceps and let out a little grunt. My muscles are getting bigger because I do push-ups. I learned them from watching daddy.
• I like to climb on things and can successfully climb on the couch and kitchen chairs without any help. I also like to stand on toys to help give me a boost so I can climb on something higher (i.e., mommy doesn't like it when I stand on my lawnmower to crawl up on the coffee table).
  
   
• Mommy takes me to the park a lot. For the first time last week, I finally went down the big, swirly slide at the playground. There were two bigger kids having so much fun so I followed their lead and marched right up to the very top. Mommy was a little nervous, but the smile on my face showed I was so proud of myself!
  
• I now say the following animal sounds for: cat, dog, cow, monkey, bunny, bee, and elephant.
• Remember a couple months ago when I mentioned my dislike for thunder/rain? While mommy and daddy were in the hospital with Emerson, Papaw taught me a fun trick. Now when it rains or thunders, I go to the window and we say "go away thunder"! Since I can't really say all that, I go to the window and say "noooo" and wave my hand away like I'm shooing the thunder goodbye.
  
• I have a new found love for peek-a-boo. I forgot how much fun it was to throw my hands over my eyes and wait for someone to say "where's Ethan"? Want to know what's even more fun? Putting my blankie over my head and walking around like a mummy!
• I can hop like a bunny.
  
• I have six teeth on top, four on the bottom, with one more molar coming through as I write this. Ouch.
  
• Lastly, I love to show affection to my baby sister. I can hold her when I sit on mommy and daddy's bed. I love to tickle her feet, touch her hands, and give her kisses. Her crying doesn't bother me anymore. Sometimes she'll cry the entire time we're in the car. Sometimes I wake up to her crying and go to bed with her crying. But, overall she's really great. I like when she has her eyes open and stares at me. Mommy says some day soon she will smile at me. I can't wait to make her laugh.
   
  

As you can see, this has been a very busy month for me. My life changed for the better when my baby sister, Emerson, was born. I am so excited to be her big brother. Be on the lookout next month for my exciting two-year post!