Asher at 20-months

I love Asher's age right now (although I say that all the time) and I want to remember him exactly as he is. Here's a few highlights of Asher at 20-months:

- still sucks his thumb and loves to stick his other hand up yours, or his own, sleeve at the same time

- sleeps with his comfort item, Jams the lamb

- sleeps 11.5 hours at night and 1 x 1.5 hour nap

- still sleeps in his crib in his "sleep sac"

- says too many animal sounds to count, but my all time favorite is elephant, with giraffe coming in a close second

- loves the books "Good Night, Gorilla", "If Kisses Were Colors", "Someday", and "Love You Forever"

- says "amen" when we all sit down to eat together to remind us to say grace

- loves to eat toast, couscous, watermelon, pears, cheese, crackers, and dip

- is still so messy with a spoon

- loves his once a day drink of juice

- calls every meal "supper"

- says over and over whenever we're en route to my parents place, "Nana, dog, Matthew, Grampa", and always in that order

- loves to play with his boots and shoes

- if I don't have my slippers on when I'm in the house, he will bring them to me and make me put them on

- very excitedly says "Papa!" when Greg comes home at suppertime every day

- still loves buses, cars, trucks and tractors and feels the need to point these out to me whenever we see any. This is very funny when we're in a parking lot

- still enjoys his swimming lesson, Kindermusik class and gymnastic class and has recently mastered how to do a bridge from gymnastics. I will have to get a picture of this because it is crazy cute

- knows to ask for a "turn" when he wants something, but has yet to realize that the other child is not obligated to give it to him

- says "hello" every time the phone rings

- really wants to be able to jump, but has yet to have both feet come off the ground

- has had too many haircuts for me to count, and is in need of another one

- tells me if there's a "mess" somewhere, and sometimes helps to clean it up

- likes to count, but can only remember the numbers 2 and 5, so he says these repeatedly

- can recognize the letter A, and sometimes the S

- has so many single words, but is only really just starting to put 2-word sentences together. I think we need to teach him more verbs in order to help this along

- says cookie in such a cute way; it sounds like "kieko". I don't want to correct him because it's so adorable

- loves his friends Marek, Noah and Maaike and says there names for hours after we've seen them

- tells me he has had a bowel movement, but only after the job is done

- loves to close doors ALL. THE. TIME.

- tires me out every day

- continues to be a quiet and shy boy who is slow to warm up to new situations and doesn't like loud noises (but boy can he be loud sometimes!)

- calls me "Mama" and I love it

- one recent story that I don't want to forget... I had to leave the house early one morning a few weeks ago, before Asher was up. This never happens. Greg got him out of his crib and set him down. Asher saw the light was on in our bedroom and so he excitedly ran into it saying "Mama!" only to realize I wasn't there. Greg proceeded to get Asher dressed and headed down stairs into the kitchen, where Asher again saw the light on and ran in saying "Mama!". I wasn't there either! Apparently Asher expects to find me in bed or in the kitchen. Nice.

- is still my favorite boy in the whole wide world and I love him so much it hurts!