20 months & 16 weeks

This is a tower Trey built mostly by himself

My favorite helper - he was trying to mop the floor this morning while Daddy took a break from mopping

Our little man is 20 months old today. I don't ever want to rush him growing up - I was talking to David today about how in 4 months, Trey will be 2. We both quickly dismissed the thought and decided to talk about something else. We love him so much and love seeing him learn and grow, but there is a certain almost sadness to that too. He is still very much dependent on us, but we can see each day how he is striving for his own independence. He is a pretty compliant little guy, but we do see regular glimpses of how irritated he is when he wants to do whatever he has decided he has wants to do and we interfere with his agenda. It goes something like knees buckling, back arched, head on the ground. It's really quite lovely especially in a public situation. We are praying that we can train him to obey and how to respond to situations even when he doesn't like the outcome simply because it makes Mommy and Daddy happy - or ultimately because it pleases Jesus (something David and I are still learning ourselves). I know he is little and he will have outbursts and get frustrated, but we are still trying to learn to be consistent. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to respond to a temper tantrum? I know there are times when I can walk away and ignore it, but I can't always do that.

Trey loves to swim - he likes to hold on to the sides and walk around the pool

Trey is still not saying a lot of words - but he communicates all the time. I'll ask him where something is, and he will make the sound and voice fluctuations like he is saying "I don't know" but it comes out with no words - just the sounds and tones you might here if he was actually saying it - does that makes any sense at all? We are really working on him using words and learning new words. Some of the words he does say are:

cracker - he pronounces it "cacker"
Trey - "Tay"
banana - "nana"
Dada
Da - (instead of Mama) I know he can say Mama - it was one of his first words but he won't say it now
dog - "dog"
down - "dee?" his voice goes up at the very end into a small squeal
door - "duh"
ball - "bah"
Gigi - "Gee?" his voice goes up at the end into a squeal
brother - "bubber"
book - "boo"
"uh oh"

Trey goes to sleep around 8pm and sleeps until 8 am - he takes his nap around noon for 3 hours. He loves loves loves books - he loves us to read to him but will also sit and look through a book himself. This morning, though, he laid in his crib for 20 minutes looking at a book left in there last night. He was just laying on his back and chattering away to himself. He reaches out his hands to us at mealtime when we pray together - it is so sweet. We want to show him and teach him to be thankful to Jesus for everything that we have. We love this little boy so much and thank God for the blessing of him and of being his parents.

He climbs up in his rocker sometimes and looks through a book

On a pregnancy note, I am 16 weeks now. I am feeling better than I did. Not too much nausea - still tired but probably more from my schedule at work than from pregnancy. I felt 3 sweet little taps coming from inside me today while I was laying down with Trey for a nap - it is so amazing to feel life inside, and I loved feeling the baby move. I'm looking forward to that movement increasing in frequency and strength as the days go on. I have my 16 week checkup tomorrow. I have yet to gain any weight. I've actually lost since I've been pregnant - with Trey, I had already gained 10 pounds at this point.

16 weeks