Bailey - Almost 2!!! (22/23 months)

Bailey has gotten SO big lately!  Its hard for me to believe that my little baby is growing up so fast!  Here are a collection of things that I want to be sure to remember about him at this age.

Bailey is our super active boy and would be outside every minute of the day if he had his way.  He loves to run at top speed while pushing something.  It could be a trike, a scooter, a wagon, a lawnmower, anything, just as long as he can run while doing it!  We still have him in swim lessons and he is such a fish and loves the water!  He spends the whole class trying his hardest to push away from me or out of my arms so that he can be on his own.  I have even had to start disciplining him for jumping off of the underwater platforms before I say the cue 'ready, go' because he was being borderline reckless.  He continually shocks us with how brave and tough he is, esp. when it comes to physical stuff.  He is the first to climb up and jump off and fall over, but we never hear a peep.  The perfect example of this was when playing outside he runs by all of a sudden with blood running down his leg.  We had no idea where it came from or when it happened because he was happy as could be even though it had a huge scrap!  We have also found little trails of blood on the floor and had to track him down to find out where it came from.  This is starkly different from Ainsley, who just today, dramatically exclaimed that her finger had broken into two pieces because she got a tiny cut on it.

Climbed up here all by himself - yikes!  Guess he wanted to watch something else

 Our little man has also begun asserting more independence.  He has always loved to be in control and gets quite frustrated when he can't be but we see him wanting to do things all by himself more and more these days.  Often when we try to offer help with a task, he shoos us away with a flip of his wrist and a simple 'no'.  The funniest part of this trait comes across when we are giving him his milk before bed.  He is so particular about how you hold him - facing outward sitting on one leg not both - how you sit - both feet down and facing out, not crossed, with your arms on armrests - and how you or he holds his milk.  If any part of this process isn't exactly the way he wants it, he fusses and pushes you into place saying 'no, no' until you finally get it all right.  Then you get a 'yay' with a clap.  Silly, stubborn boy!

Although Bailey is a wild, independent man, he has also become quite the sweet snuggler these past few months.  I adore this!!  He will often come up requesting hugs and snuggles and will linger longer than he used to.  He is still obsessed with his pacis which he calls 'bas' but now he has also become attached to his lovey.  He doesn't have a name for it yet but motions that he wants it by snuggling his hand to his chin.  He loves to play the 'night-night' game where he wants to turn off all the lights and snuggle down with his lovey and paci.  And then he makes the sweetest, funniest snoring noises.  It makes me smile every time, esp when I get to be part of the game too because then it is just a bunch of free snuggles!!

He is getting more into playing and mimicking and loves to race cars with a 'vrroomm' noise and fly planes with a 'schoo' noise.  And even though he knows most of the correct animal noises, almost all of his play animals growl like lions.  :)  He also loves to bring us little yummies and drinks from the toy kitchen.  He loves art (coloring, painting, stamping, pens, playdoh) and is so proud of what he makes, always congratulating himself with a clap and a "yay!!"  He is also very right-handed in everything:  eating, coloring, hair pulling, etc.  He will even go so far as picking things up with his left hand only to put them in his right to use.  It's funny to watch esp. since it still isn't clear which hand Ainsley is dominate in.

One of my favorite things is getting to watch how Ainsley and Bailey's play together develops as they each get older.  They adore each other so much and it is obviously that they genuinely miss eachother when the other is gone.  I love getting to see the expression on their faces change with excitement when their buddy walks in the door.  Often when Ainsley is at school, Bailey will have me try to play games like Ainsley does.  For instance, he always wants me to push the wagon while he pushes the cart in a race, but he trys to force me to push it bent over with my hands on the rail like Ainsley does.  This particular game doesn't go over well, but I still think it is cute that he wants me to try to be like her.  They are also pretending more and more together, with Bailey babbling and Ainsley being able to understand what he is saying or trying to say.  Still, with all the joy and laughter also comes the more-than-I'd-like-to-admit tears, pushing, and hair pulling.  I know this is just part of it, so I try to just let it roll off but sometimes it just breaks my heart to see.

Bailey is still only a decent eater - not as adventurous as Ainsley was at this age, and still doesn't love veggies, but he loves meat, cheese, bananas, and pretzels.  We always joke that our children combined have a well-rounded diet because Bailey eats all the meat and cheese and Ainsley eats all the veggies and noodles.

Even with all the joy that Bailey brings, I'll admit that he can be a handful.  Sometimes I feel like I'm on the fence about if he is strong-willed or if he just pushes the limits or if he is simply a second child acting out.  Even though he is out of speech therapy, we are still keeping in touch with the therapist because he is still delayed verbally.  He understandably gets frustrated when he can't communicate but sometimes his crying fits on the floor are super intense.  It is clear that he is understanding more and more of what we are saying so I try my best daily to give him the extra patience and guidance he needs, but it's hard.  I don't want to give him a label, because he is so sweet so often, but he definitely takes more consistent discipline than I remember Ainsley needing.  Either way, we love him to pieces and feel so incredibly blessed by everything he is and is becoming.