21!

Raleigh turned 21 (months) today. Sadly, he had a pretty boring 21st birthday, except for wearing his boots all day long (though we got one off for nap time).

He is doing so much--mainly talking, which has been great. He likes to tell his parents what he would like them to do. "Daddy sit down that!" (pointing to the couch. The best was "Mommy back in kitchen." We also get a lot of "No, No, Mommy, that way" (if we are playing with his toys the wrong way. We even get "Go away, Mommy/Daddy" but we felt better when we found out this was from a book at school. Sometimes he talks about what needs to be done and then says a long drawn out "oh-kaaaaay?"

We love to play. Raleigh likes to give us commands "awake" "sleeping" "awesome" (which means to jump) and we do them. Mommy and Daddy get turns giving commands, but their turns are usually shorter. We also play a mix of peek a boo and hide and seek. Usually we hide in the same place and are found over and over again and it is still funny. Today, Daddy was coming, and Mommy asked Raleigh to hide. (He chose behind her in her house coat).

Daddy: Is Raleigh in the shower?
Raleigh: Nooooooo
....
Daddy: Where's Raleigh?
Raleigh (from the housecoat): Raleigh in mommy!

The new bedtime book is "Wild Thing". Dad and Raleigh can recite it (Raleigh filling in the blanks). Good night moon has been memorized forever. Raleigh asks for books by his favorite part "tweedle beetle" (Fox in Socks) or "welcome home" (Chrysanthemum). We are learning all the nicknames. He likes to have a turn reading, too. "Fox! Socks! Knox!"

Raleigh is learning to count. He could "count" to 10 in November and got all the numbers, but we has a toy that sings 1-10. Now he definitely knows when there is one of something or two of something. When there are more, he counts (usually skipping two) and counting and pointing to things or removing them from a container seem to go at different speeds. ;)

Raleigh is doing well at school and we hear he is a good friend to the new kids in his class.

Raleigh has been "drawing" race cars recently. One scribble with a black pen was a red race car. Sometime he tells us his food is something - a boat, a cow, etc.