The life and times of a 23 month old

Our 22 month old son must have heard us talking about him.  Mom and Dad were figuring out how to socialize Toddler Mojo and he went and figured it out all by himself.   Now he approaches some kids his size, they speak their toddler slang, do the Jedi mind trick and follow each other around.     

Talking

The babbling has increased since the 22^nd month and a couple new syllables have entered the fray.  There aren’t any new words being spoken yet, but it’s sounding more like a conversation, albeit, in Icelandic.

The power of “no” and “my”

Good news:  Talking.  Bad news:  No and My.  Toddler Mojo said “My” for the first time.  It was used in the context of “My book”.  We don’t think he really knew what he was saying as it was for a book and not something expensive or edible.

“No” has been in the vocabulary for a while, but he’s easily swayed by a cookie, kitten or balloon.  It is likely that these forms of bribery won’t last.

Hobbies

Our 23 month old still loves books.  He’s not reading Atlas Shrugged yet, but he can read about 20 words.  This past month his interest in Thomas the Train had really increased and he especially loves the opening credits.  His interest in Thomas the Train works out well because I purchased Shaun the Sheep recently.  Shaun the Sheep is a fabulous stop animation children’s show from the UK, much like Wallace and Gromit.

Toddler Mojo also has fallen in love with his Matchbox Cars.  He always has one in his hand and loves to put them in cups, at least he’s semi-organized.  If you’re going to a birthday party for a 2 year old boy anything Thomas the Train or Matchbox cars will be received with manic, two year old enthusiasm.

Curiosity

A 23 month old is curious.  Can I pick that up?  Can I run around with that?  The other day we were in the back yard and he was face down in the bird bath.  He was drinking some water and blowing bubbles.    One of the dogs was sent over to push him out of the way.   We then told Toddler Mojo that it was for the birds to bathe in and that the water was dirty.  It’s quite possible we’ll repeat this numerous times….daily.

Monkey see/Monkey do 

Mommy Mojo says that Toddler Mojo looks like me walking from behind.  It has to do with his gate or saunter, but it’s something that we can’t vouch for personally.  One day, when I was tired and just needed to sit down so I collapsed on the sofa and put my head on a cat.  The cat happened to be sleeping back there, she was purring, slightly overweight and made a nice pillow for a moment.

Unfortunately an impressionable 23 month old was watching as I collapsed onto the couch.  Now every time he sees the cat he tries to put his head on them.  In our house it’s not too a problem as one of the cats is friendly, lazy and will do anything to make people happy short of making you breakfast.   The other cat is warming up to the two legged AT-AT, but won’t stay long enough to be a pillow.

Be the man you want your son to be, is what that taught us.  That means open doors, be sure to say ‘thank you’, ‘please’; don’t drink from the bird bath or use the cat as a pillow.

 

The life and times is a series where we’ll track what our child is doing at points in their life.    As a parent you hear that they grow up fast and that is very true.  What should parents expect from a child at a certain age?  Granted all children are different, but this is what ours is doing at this age.