21 Months

(he got this balloon for Valentines Day and insisted it be in the photo! He is also sick in this picture. Runny nose/cough thing)

Everett turned 21 months on 2/11/13! This age- by far- has been the most fun. He is silly, sweet, chatty and just a joy.

He got his first haircut, but just to trim up around the ears and neck. His hair is something that he is complimented on daily! It is a curly fluffy awesome 'mess' on the top of his head with two curls around his ears. It is still red sometimes in the sun.

I think this age is definitely the age where me, as a parent, can get away with thinking he will forget about I promise I made or a habit I started yesterday. Like if I tell him we are going to the park, he will get his shoes and hat and beg for the park until we are there. One time I let him eat breakfast at the kitchen table and now the high chair is put away. He knows going to the nursery at church means I will be gone for two hours. Sometimes he hollers "bye!" but other times he cries. He knows a camera or a phone means "cheese!". He knows going to see Grammy means "car, fishies" (driving to her school and theres a fish tank there).
He is very active. I was told he is a busy bee and doesn't stop moving. This is very true. It is hard for him to sit and play alone for a while, he is always onto the next thing. Except his love for Yo Gabba Gabba (seriously thats all that I hear in my head now), he is too busy to sit for much. We go to story time once a week and it is kinda a nightmare for me. He has no interest in sitting still for me, all he can talk about are the bubbles that happen at the end!
 He has never met a stranger. That is something my mother in law has always said about my husband, and it couldn't be more true for Everett. At the library he will go up an talk to other moms, even play peek-a-boo with them. At the play place at the mall he walked up and started a conversation with an old lady! Just chatting away, mostly not understandable, but hey.  I love how bold he is. I can see the strength in his boldness and the weakness. He is outgoing and brave, but on the same token he can be defiant and stubborn. He is in time out probably once a day, and he takes it really seriously. If I even MENTION time out, he runs there (a corner in the living room) and puts his face against the wall until we get him out. I am starting to think he does this not because I have him well disciplined in time out, but because he knows its a punishment and REFUSES to let us see him hate it. I know that sounds crazy for me to think about an almost two year old, but he is THAT defiant (when it comes to discipline). He wants the control and power. He is a tough little nut.
He is really into babies, ha. Somehow he can tell who is younger than him and they are automatically "baby!" to him. He also has a glow worm that he carries around and calls baby. He also sleeps with a stuffed Elmo (malmo!), a moose (moooooo!), and a teddy bear (barrrr!). When I get him out of his crib he asks for each of them to also get out.
He is really starting to blossom into a gentle, sweet spirit. He loves to help me unload the dishwasher by taking one piece at a time, handing it to me and saying "thank you! you welcome!". It takes forever to unload the dishwasher now but it is some of the sweetest moments we share. He also likes me to hand him the clothes out of the washer (one by one) so he can put them in the dryer (one by one).

I don't want to forget:

• how you say "sorry", it comes out "SAUCEY!" and you say it with such enthusiasm too.
• your chubby hands holding my cheeks so you can kiss me
• how you sit next to me on the couch, laying your head on my arm
• how you say "JUUUUICE!"
• how you discovered picking your nose. haha.
• you've had a runny nose this week, and when you sneeze some snot out you panic, look and me, grab my arm and wipe your nose on it.
• not something I love that you do, but you stuff your mouth with food and then let it all spill out. Nomi (my mom) thinks you are trying to be like Cookie Monster.
• you are never mad when you wake up. You always greet me with a "BOO!" when I walk into your room.