Grayson at 22 Months

It's hard to believe there are only two months left until Gray reaches the two-year mark and I no longer keep track of his monthly birthdays. Lately, the moments of Grayson "the baby" are few and far between. They have been replaced by moments of silliness, learning, exploring, and emotion all from a little boy.

Grayson's vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds, as is his repertoire of facial expressions. He is constantly naming everything in sight and when he comes across something where he doesn't know the word he either asks you or assigns it a somewhat related name that's already in his vocabulary. I have a feeling when he starts kindergarten he'll likely get in trouble for talking too much.

This kid's facial expressions have also recently blossomed. He's always been smiley and expressive, but now he has the full-body silliness to go with it.

We're also running everywhere these days. And I mean literally running. He doesn't walk much unless he's holding someone's hand. If he's cruising around the house it's at a full-steam running pace. I love to watch his little chubby legs go. They are really starting to thin out, but for now I'm enjoying the last few rolls before muscle takes over.

He's doing very well at following instructions and minding (of course, now that I say that I've totally jinxed us). He is also still obsessed with all things Elmo, books and playing outside.

I think we're beginning to enter the pretend phase because I've noticed lately he's staring to use his imagination more to make stuffed animals talk and cook/serve "food" from his toy restaurant.

This weekend we've decided to bite the bullet and officially start potty training -- boot-camp style. It will no-doubt be a tiring, messy process for us all, but if nothing else we'll see if he's actually ready to catch on or if we need to hold off a few more months. I'm exhausted just thinking about it (which is why I keep putting it off).

We probably need to convert his crib to a toddler bed soon, but I don't want to throw too many changes at him at once. He's still content in his crib and hasn't tried climbing out, so we're going to put that off a little longer. Lately he has been wanting to hoard things in his crib. We gave him a real pillow in addition to the small round pillow he was already using. There's also two blankets (each with different textures) and four stuffed animals. Let's just say he likes things cozy.

I love tucking him in because he gets all nestled in among his animals and likes to be fully covered up with his arms and feet also tightly covered. This may be the result of swaddling him as a baby, or maybe I'm just grasping at straws for signs he's still my little 6 lb. 11 oz. bundle of joy. Either way, when I ask him --Where is mama's baby? -- he points to himself, so as long as he still knows it that's all that matters.