Joey: 22 Months

At 22 months, Joey is weighing in at 22 pounds. If he continues at one pound per month, we might get somewhere sometime soon. =) At this point, he's barely heavy enough to turn his car seat forward facing. We are going to hold off for another month or two though.

I spoiled it, but for the past ten days, Joey has been walking. We have noticed a great progression - he's gone from walking to running. He's much more confident and walks very quickly. He has chosen walking as he main mode of transportation.

Verbally, we've noticed a huge growth as well. Joey can and will regularly count from one to seven. He is talking more in sentences as well - want to go outside, where's the kitty/dog, want to go bye-bye. It's really cool because I feel like we're carrying real conversations with him. He seems to understand when I tell him what we're going to do for the day (eat breakfast, change clothes, then go bye-bye). His common response to me is ok. =) He's also started to ask actions from others - sit down, come on, etc.

Not only does Joey ask for high-fives on a consistent basis, but he loves to ask for fist bumps too. He'll hold out his fist and say boom. Joey can point out his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, fingers, feet, toes, belly, boobies and hair. We're working on more complex body parts, like elbows, knees, arms and legs.

As far as eating habits are concerned, Joey's been on a real fruit kick lately - strawberries, grapes, pineapple. He calls them all strawberries and will whine for them. He still has his favorites. He's really been into "dips" lately. Ketchup (which he asks for by name) and Ranch. He loves them both so much he'll eat them by the spoonful. Joey's getting better with using his utensils. Recently, we gave him his own bowl of ice cream and he spoon-fed the entire bowl to himself. We were quite impressed.

As far as sleeping habits are concerned, we've had a few struggles in the past month. Joey goes down great for bed, but wakes up inconsolable in the middle of the night. We've gotten a nightlight and that seems to be doing the trick. He's still down to one nap per day (1-3 hours) and normally sleeps around 11 hours at night.

When I mentioned in the past that he was difficult to wrangle for his monthly photo, I obviously had know idea what chasing down a walking toddler was like. Geesh! Very slim-pickins this month, but enjoy anyway.