Our Neanderthal at 21 Months

Yes, not only has it been 10 years since college graduation, it's been 21 months since Peyton was born. Both are equally hard to believe. The passage of time is such a funny thing isn't it? So close, yet so far away.

Peyton is a delightful little neanderthal. He echos our every move and word. We love to "re a story" together and have several favorites. Humpty-Dumpty, Duck and Goose, Brown Bear, Good Night Moon and anything with babies (preferably human to animal) are among our top picks on a daily basis. We've read some of these selections so many times, Peyton can actually tell you what each page says!

We still love the big brown box (see last months post on The Chariot, our bike carrier). I admit it. The box is still in our living room. It's actually served a really good purpose. Most of the time, instead clearing out the toy shelf and scattering toys throughout the house - daily, Peyton carefully carries his toys from the toy shelf and straight into the big box. Aside from the giant box, the floor is so much cleaner! Yes, we still love the big brown box.

The vacuum (bubba) remains a daily participant in our household activities. In an effort to give more quality time to Peyton (no phone, email, cooking, chores, etc...) we set the timer and have uninterrupted "special time" with Peyton throughout the day. Peyton gets to choose the activity...he always asks for Elmo (we turn the Elmo CD on) and rice (our bin of rice that inevitable gets scattered all over the kitchen floor and thus lengthens special time when we have to get bubba out to help us clean up).

Interesting observations (to me, anyway):
Peyton seems to favor his left hand to hold his silverware and crayons. He loves almond butter and applesauce. I can't remember the last day that we did not have raisins for snack. Rain or shine, we play outside and water the plants. He finally noticed that there are letters/words on the pages in his books, not just pictures and likes to point at them. When we sing the ABC's he likes to "try" to sing along and say the letters. I wouldn't say we are close to knowing any letters, but noticing them is a start. The same is true for counting to 10. He gets the idea of counting things and likes to repeat the numbers after us. When we are out and about and he can walk, he will! This kid can walk unbelievably far. He doesn't want to be carried. At the slightest hint of tired, he takes off at a run (I think he does this so we don't notice he's tired)! At the suggestion to ride in the stroller, he'll respond by choosing to push the stroller instead.