22 months old!

We are just two months away from a birthday party! I'm already planning it in my mind. I'm sure trains will be involved. He's kind of passionate about trains. The only way I could top a Train Party would be to host a party on a farm.

Today Dennis had a Tea Party with Winnie the Pooh. They were sitting together at the table and Pooh had his own bowl. Dennis gave him some granola and held up Pooh's sippy cup so that he could drink. He also put his pacifier in Pooh's mouth after he finished his meal. And for some inexplicable reason, he put Pooh's bowl on Pooh's head and then left the table. Later he brought Pooh a meal from his kitchen, stirring whatever imaginary food that was in the frying pan with the spatula all the way to the table and then offering the bear a taste.

We attempted a height measurement, but Dennis kept hunching over. Best we can tell, he isn't any taller this month than last month, and he hasn't put on much weight (not even one pound). So while he's growing up fast, the physical growth has slowed, and this was exactly on schedule for him. He'll probably have another increase in height before his birthday and I'll notice when I start to see his ankles sticking out from the bottom of his pants. I was surprised that he wasn't taller this month, because two pairs of pants that fit a few weeks back are suddenly short on him. We'll measure again next month and maybe he'll cooperate better.

This is supposed to be the time of the terrible twos, but so far we've been spared truly horrible behavior. We've heard and read that the time between 18 and 24 months are the actual terrible twos (but we didn't tell Dennis that). Yes, he is starting to test his limits, to test us. He just started that this week. He waits a minute before doing what we ask and he gives us a little defiant look, waiting to see what we'll do. So far I've been able to get him to cooperate by adopting a serious facial expression and using a sterner tone of voice. He responds, and I praise and thank him for doing whatever it was I asked. He loves positive reinforcement of any kind and just lives to make us smile and laugh, and I'm hoping that positive reinforcement will be the key to raising him to behave well. He already says please and thank you, and we've not really emphasized him saying it, but we use those words with him and with each other. For so long now we've thanked him for bringing us stuff and handing it to us that he often says thank you when someone gives him something. And today I was fixing a cup of juice for him and he said "apple juice" and I told him he was right, and he said it again, and I agreed, and finally he held up his hands and said "please". I realized I was taking too long to get it ready for him. He wasn't telling me what it was--he was asking for it! And I'd not ever heard him use 'please' of his own accord before and was terribly impressed. I praised the heck out of him (and I gave him his juice).