This month, we didn’t have a whole lot of great photos to choose from. Jameson was pretty excited about the blocks!

I started writing down the many new things we observed during the month because I couldn’t remember them all the end! This month, his grandma taught him that grunting is necessary for getting lids on and off; so while he learned how to screw and unscrew lids, he will grunt and groan while doing it. Likewise, he likes to squeeze his food between his fingers, and that deserves a grunt too while his little fist shakes with the effort.

Speaking of food, he consistently eats broccoli (he once at all the broccoli out of the mixed vegetable steam fresh bag), cheese, and most any pasta (not rice or tortellini). Many other foods are hit or miss depending on the day, even fruit was a miss on rare occasions.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMOpwPEEZzo]

He can click his tongue now in addition to these new words: Buckle, Poop, Pee, Moo, Baa, Ee ee ee (the sound the monkey makes, according to grandma), EE ii ee ii oh, Water, Weener, Elmo (pronounced melmo), Duck, Bib, and all of these are used still pretty inconsistently except for Buckle, Bib and Elmo.

Jameson is also making up entire sentences. Babble babble more babble ma mo babble? Whatever you say, Jameson! We have heard his first two word sentences. First was “bye bye doggie” at 18 months, and recently “no no doggie” when she was trying to lick his ears.

“More please” is pretty seamless now; he says “Mo” and signs the word for “please” pretty consistently. “Thank you” is also becoming more frequent though only on request, but it is also a sign.

Lest you think that all is well and communication easy for him, he frequently gets frustrated that he can’t express himself, most often surrounding food. Whining at the pantry is a favorite past-time before dinner as we list through his various snack options (and he doesn’t really understand the word snack).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAvgR-DNbFc]

While I try to limit the snacking to just half a bag of animal crackers (his current favorite) before dinner (and try to suggest blueberries often as an alternative), one night it was so bad I allowed him to pick out his meal in the fridge. He chose a leftover grilled cheesy bratwurst (I doubt he knew that it was more than a hot dog!) and a yogurt. He ate them both, no complaints.

Bed time: Though he doesn’t do a great job, we do let him brush his own teeth. On the days he doesn’t want to, I force it. I’ve become an expert at holding the face properly so that I can brush his teeth. He is thrilled that he can do this himself though, reaching his toothbrush into the water (later, we will concentrate more on water conservation, haha)!

On the other end of the spectrum, diaper changes are much less fun, often with him screaming the entire time unless we’ve given him sufficient distraction, like a particular book, the buckle on the table, or mobile remote; whatever it is, he needs to pick it out.

This month, in a very anticlimactic way, we stopped bottles. Now, we read about 10 books at night instead of 1 to allow him time to drink his milk. It takes him longer, but he falls asleep without issue. Except for naps, which he has refused on rare occasions. This makes me nervous that we will lose naps in the near future, but so far, so okay.

Overall, discipline is still pretty light. We say no sternly (and fairly frequently), and physically stop him from whatever he is doing wrong. It’s typically just because something is dangerous. If it’s excessive (like biting, which only seems to happen during teething — but for some reason happened twice this weekend in excitement!), then we put him in a corner. But we don’t otherwise restrain him, so he quickly gets over it and moves on. I wonder when we might have to bring out a timeout chair, or a gated area, but for now, he is listening okay most of the time. He actually doesn’t try to run away outside often anymore if we tell him no.

If he gets himself too worked up over something (like wanting a snack, and not taking our no for an answer) and tries to throw a mini tantrum (mini because he is so careful and funny about it), then we take him into the bathroom with the lights off and shut the door (with us there holding him). Usually that’s enough to snap him out of it, which is all that’s needed and a moment of quiet.

Jameson is a little helper, both at home and at daycare. His teachers comment how he is the only one who will help pick up toys (and we only reinforce this lesson every once in a while at home, so I am excited to see that he seems to come by this naturally; I will take no credit for it). At home, he will help me put away the dishes (I let him, yes, but take the breakables from him pretty quick. He has yet to drop anything).

He also threw a pair of shorts in the washer. Yesterday, his teacher told me that he wanted to help check for messy diapers and tried to lift one of the boys who can’t walk yet out of the wagon. Recently, he held one of the new kids’ hand and walked him around the room, like he was showing him around.

It’s been such fun watching him grow, but I can’t believe that next month we’ll hit a big 2-0.