Happy Twenty-Three Months!

One month until his birthday, and we are deep into preparing. We've discovered recently that Peter does not like it when people sing happy birthday, and he burst into tears more than once in a restaurant when it happened. While he loves to sing the song by himself, it seems like he isn't a fan of other people singing in unison.

Peter is a great eater, and is getting much better at using his fork. While he sometimes drops food, for the most part it gets into his mouth. He has also gotten much better at drinking out of a cup, although most of the time we do stick with a straw. Napping has pretty much stopped, although every couple of days he will decide to take one. Nighttime sleep has been much better, and he rarely wakes up before the morning anymore.

He absolutely loves to read, and has his favorite books, one being Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? He loves to make all the animal sounds, such as trumpeting like an elephant. He also loves Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and is now starting to get interested in Dr Seuss. Peter is also getting much more into art projects, especially the ones that we do at school. He is much better at picking out colors, although still has a bit a problem with naming them on his own (everything is "gween").

Peter has also started to jump. He started off by asking to hold either Geoff's or my hands and using that the help him, but now he can do it by himself. He loves to pretend to be a frog and say "ribbit" while jumping. He has started to do more imaginary play, really taking advantage of his kitchen. He loves playing with toy cars and trains, and still pushes his "big twuck" all around the apartment.

And from BabyCenter.com

At twenty-three months, most children:
Name simple pictures in a book - He loves to do this, especially if they are pictures of vehicles.
Use fifty to seventy words - I've never counted, but he now talks a lot, even stringing together short sentences.

At twenty-three months, half the children:
Open doors - He doesn't quite have the ability to do this, but he definitely knows how and has tried to turn doorknobs. It isn't too much longer until he succeeds.
Sing simple tunes - He can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Elmo's Song, and most of the alphabet (although he does mix up the letters a bit). Hopefully videos are coming soon.
Take more of an interest in playing with other children - This has definitely started, first noticed when we went out to dinner with Connor, and the two of them actually started engaging. It was most noticeable at playgroup with is friend, Ella. The two of them would run around together, and if one got too far away from the other, they would call each other back. They were also sharing toys and taking turns. It was amazing to watch.

At twenty-three months, a few children:
Talk about themselves (likes, dislikes) - He doesn't really do this.
Ask "why?" - Thank goodness this hasn't started yet.

And as always, there are more pictures in our March album on Picasa, which I will continue to update throughout the month.