August 6th - Almost 2

Somewhat interesting facts about Peyton at 23 months, in random order:

When asked how old he is he replies, "one."

Will tell you that his name is Peyton Andrew Russell.

If counting will say: "1, 2, 3, go" or "1, 2, 9, 8, 7!"


Can recite/sing some of the ABC song, several stories and many, many nursery rhymes by memory. I'm not sure he knows what he is saying, but the rhyme and rhythm of these seem to really stick in his memory.

Enjoys a bit of Elmo on t.v. (on occasion).

Likes to start each day tackling, I mean cuddling, Mommy in bed.

Loves opening and closing doors - can't quite reach and manipulate most door handles yet, but there are a few he can do, including unlocking and opening the sliding door to the back yard.

Enjoys dress up, especially shoes and hats. He also likes to dress down to nakedness, which he is getting better at doing all by himself!

Is beginning to string together all kinds of words to make multiple word sentences!

Still naps two times a day - most days.

Has agreed to give up the binky once and for all. After a few days of discussing and agreeing that big boys don't need binky's, the "Binky Ferry" came and took away Peyton's binky because, after all, Peyton is now a big boy. He seemed fine with this explanation and nothing more has been said about the binky ferry. Peyton did look for the binky's the first night after this explanation was given, but seemed satisfied that they were indeed gone, so what we were saying must be true. But then after lying down in his crib for a few seconds decided he needed to "hold Mommy" and cry really hard for about 15 seconds. That's it. After that he was fine. He tossed around a bit before falling asleep, but HE DID fall asleep, by himself. And stayed asleep. All night long. In fact, he's slept every night since without it and without incident. Steve and I feel fortunate that it really was that easy. He's asked for his "di-di" (binky) a few times, but usually reminds himself that "di-di all gone" before we have to remind him. I will admit that he's had a more difficult time napping (pushing us to 1 nap a day more often than 2) and has become a bit more aggressive with his play and cuddles, but we feel fortunate to be binky free without sleepless nights and parental guilt.

Peyton also seems to fear loud noises and machines - especially loud lawn mowers. Which is interesting to me because he also absolutely loves trucks, especially big, loud construction trucks. This new interest has led to a crash course for Mommy about the names of these specific trucks, which Peyton has also learned and says. Excavator, back-hoe and loader are part of our daily vocabulary, it seems.

How has it been almost 2 years?