Levi - 23 months

We are one month away from the big 0-2! Levi still seems like a such a baby to me but recently he's really started to act and look more like a 2 year old than a 1 year old! It is so crazy to me to think that when Charlie was this age he was on the verge of becoming a big brother. We were hoping (and successfully) moved him into a twin bed right before his 2nd birthday and it just seems like he was so much "older". We have no plans on relocating Levi any time soon, he doesn't mind sleeping in the crib and has yet to climb out, which surprises me.  He has peeled a lot of the decals off of the wall behind the crib but that's pretty minor. I have been expecting him to crawl out of the crib for months now, or to walk in and find him with all of his clothes off, because that's how he roles.  Levi requires constant supervision and I just can't imagine having a newborn and having to keep him out of mischief at the same time right now! Chill out and watch a show for 2 minutes??...forget about it!

Love this pic from Christmas. A pretty typical face

Our trip to Hawaii was by far and away the longest we've ever been apart. I have only spent a few one-nights away from him (like 4...) in his 2 years, so 10 days was a very long time for me. He didn't seem to mind. In fact after we got back he just kept on saying, "maa-maa, I miss" so he was sad that grandma left. When we got back it seemed like he was talking so much more than before we left. He's a little sponge these days & repeats everything. He's a smart little man, just like his big brother.  He says a lot of short sentences and sometimes the words aren't in the right order but he's a chatterbox. He has lots of 3-4 word sentences and has finally started saying thanks (or "danks") unprompted. He will also say things like "change me, mama" or "I want 2 oranges, please".

Sitting on the table, of course

He has been into books for a long time now but recently he's become extra addicted to them. I really think he would bring me books to read all day long. He's broken his routine a little bit for naps & bed by picking out a few different books versus the same bunch we were reading before. Right now he's really into "Try Counting Sheep" which was one of Charlie's favorites that was a regular around this age as well. Levi finds the sheep hiding on every single page. It didn't take many readings for him to figure it out.  He also still loves to sing "choo-choo" and now is really into abc's. He sings, "A,B,C,D no, no, no" and will count to 3.

He is still the king of dumping all of the things out wherever he goes and still insists on constantly trying to reach things we have purposefully put up out of his reach by way of stool, little chair, kitchen chair, laundry basket, box, etc etc. He is getting to be much better at playing with Charlie although he still won't always cooperate with EXACTLY what Charlie wants to do. He loves playing farm & tractors but would still prefer to be playing with something he shouldn't be. He also loves playing in his tent and playing games. The boys have been really into ring around the rosy. And Charlie has been into duck, duck grey duck. Levi likes to play but it's a little tricky with only 3-4 people. And Charlie doesn't understand that Levi has an incredibly short attention span and doesn't want to sit while Charlie goes around 65 times :)

I have a feeling he'll be our little trouble maker. He's going to be the one who will do any dare or be egged on by his peers. If he's being a stinker & Charlie laughs at him he will get an evil little giggle & then keep on doing it no matter how much I say no....like throwing water on me from the bathtub. The other day at the library, he crawled into a drawer underneath the train table. I told him to get out and he just yelled, "NOOOO, SHUT!!!" The child is crazy!

Fruit & bread are still his favorites. Along with noodles. He is also obsessed with clementines. He can peel them himself and like most fruit we have to keep them out of reach or I think he would eat them all day long, based on how often he requests them. Meat can be pretty touchy still sometimes. Most times he will eat beans & corn, although the other night when Erik told him he had to eat his beans he looked at him & then just started wailing. We're definitely entering some terrible 2 territory with some of his behaviors. He gets his fair share of timeouts from hitting although he's pretty good at playing victim, too. But he's a rough and tough kind of guy always crashing into something. He's had plenty of bumps, bruises, & fat lips and it doesn't slow him down.

I can't believe he'll be 2 in less than a month!