Sweet November: Jace- 20 months

Jace turned 20 months a couple of weeks ago. I would have blogged about it sooner but I've been having computer issues for the last week or two. 20 months has been a huge month of change for Jace! If I looked back at my 19 month update I'm sure almost all of it would be different.

Jace's vocabulary has taken off in the last couple of weeks and now he is repeating almost everything we say and using several words on a regular basis. The words we hear alot of around here are usually just the things he's currently obsessed with. Words like: truck, juice, cookie, outside, doggie, castle (jump castle), cracker, potty, blankie, car... etc. He's also started using "please" often, and "thank you" occasionally (we're still working on that one!). Everyday he seems to say about five new words that we haven't heard him say before. The other day he grabbed his clifford stuffed animal and called him "little buddy" which melted our hearts of course. :)

Jace has been a picky eater again lately, but I'm hoping that it's just because his bottom incisors have been slowly making there way through his gums and, just like the top ones, they've been causing him alot of discomfort. Thanks to carbohydrates the boy doesn't starve. When he goes through these picky phases he only wants breads, crackers, fruit, etc.

In the last month Jace has become obsessed with certain objects that he's formed attachments to. Prior to 20 months he never cared about certain blankets or stuffed animals or toys. At night he would throw all of his blankets and pillows off of his bed before falling asleep. Now he's done a complete 180. He's hit the stage of needing to take certain items with us everytime we leave the house and take certain items to bed with us each night. Most nights he has to sleep with all four of his pillows, his vikings blanket, his clifford plush, a truck or two, and a ball. Sometimes he likes to have some plastic food in bed with him too. It was such a dramatic change one day where he all of a sudden just became attached to items, it took me by surprise.

Jace continues to be a very sweet little boy, but he definitely has his toddler moments. I have to say that being the parent of a toddler is definitely a very humbling experience. All those things I once said I'd never do with my own child and all those judgemental assumptions I've secretly thought about other parents... Flash forward two years and I find myself in the grocery store bribing my child to be quiet with lollipops and sips from my diet coke while he's grabbing food from the back of the cart and throwing it onto the floor and snatching away my shopping list while screaming "MINE!". Then at dinner that night I find myself praising him for trying the chicken nuggets on his plate before throwing it across the kitchen against the wall. It's in those moments that I realize that I'm not that "super mom" I hoped I would be. In those moments I try to remind myself that every child has a different temperment, every parent has a different style, some things will work for certain families that won't work for others... we're all trying to do what's best for our kids and in the end they will all turn out fine. Hopefully ;)

Jace has been enjoying going to "school" a few times per week with me while I work. He seems to do best in a class with the 2 and 3 year olds instead of with the kids around his age. He tends to be a little more energetic and adventurous than alot of the kids in the 1-2 age group and turns into a bit of a bulldozer if he is in there. He gets excited in the morning when I tell him we're going to school and likes to grab his lunch pail and walk out to the car. He loves jumping and climbing on the giant jump castle that we have there and climbing on the indoor playplace. One of the little boys at school is named Ty and Jace likes to say his name alot, it's the only name he attempts saying though.

Since it's been pretty hot outside lately Jace and I have been trying to keep busy indoors, which can be a bit boring for him at times. He has gotten way more into doing puzzles, playing with trucks and reading books recently though which has helped. He loves to sit before bedtime and flip through a big stack of books talking about everything we see in the pictures. Below are a few pictures I've taken over the last couple of weeks which will probably describe him better than my words will!