James ~22 months old~

I almost forgot to do his monthly update! (Thanks for the reminder on your blog, Erika! I've gotta keep up my good reputation!) James turned 22 months on May 18th, while we were on our vacation.

His growing vocabulary continues to amaze us. It was especially evident as we spent so much time together. He repeats words that we say very well now and comes out with more and more new words every day (literally!). He really is becoming a little boy... and it's more and more apparent every day how far he is from a baby. (I really noticed it when I got to see and hold my cousin's new 1 month-old baby!... Don't worry, pictures will come in future posts!)

He is also becoming more and more curious. He wants to know how things work (i.e., the washer) and once you show him, he's not likely to forget it. He's such a sponge! So, we're trying to take advantage of this "soaking up" time. We've started reading the Elephant ABC book more and more and I've even started saying the sounds of each letter as we read it. He has started repeating the sounds, too. Some are actually pretty accurate as he mimics me! He gets a huge smile on his face and we can tell he's so proud of himself! Soon we'll work on shapes and colors more.

I also think it's amazing how those little wheels inside his head are always turning and we never know what's going to come out and surprise us. One day before we left for our trip, we were at the mall (which we hardly ever get to go to!) running some last minute errands. When we got close to an escalator James shouted out, "Colee!" while pointing excitedly to it. I was floored! Just from reading the book Corduroy (which has definitely been a favorite lately) and seeing the picture of the escalator in the book, he made that connection when he saw the one in the store we were in. We were so proud. Of course we had to ride up and down once, in honor of Corduroy.

He now recognizes his buddies at the nursery at church and although he hasn't said their names yet, when he sees them he gets a huge smile on his face and usually runs right in to play with them (unless he's having some weird anxiety attack at that moment, which happens occasionally). He got to see one of his buddies, Christian, and his sister, Nicole, for the first time in a while on Wed. night (the day we got back from our trip) and he was pretty excited. We were pretty excited to get to see their parents, too. =o) It really does feel good to be home after so long.

Here are a few pics of James at around 22 months old:

These two bath pictures above were taken at the end of April. He still loves his bathtime... especially when cups are involved!

4/26/08 - James "helps" me blow out my candles!

5/6/08 - James decided he wanted to try to climb into his crib while I was in his room cleaning before we left for our trip. At least he doesn't try to climb out of it!

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Looking back...

James just one year ago at 10 months old:

4/28/07 - I guess he's really closer to 9 mo. (which explains his 9 mo. shirt) but since I had the birthday picture of him helping me this year, I figured I'd include it, too.

5/6/07 - James in the "Olympic-sized" swimming pool in Pops' backyard last May. (Supposedly, it's even bigger this year. We will soon see, since James' cousins are coming down for a 2-3 week visit.)


5/8/07 - Peek-a-boo! Although he wasn't really crawling, he could make his way around. Here he's peeking out from under his Exersaucer.

5/13/07 - Mother's Day 2007... Meenaw Moose (aka Nana), Mom (aka Grandma), and Karen (aka Mommy) with James.