23 months

The countdown is on...1 month to go until our little monkey turns 2 years old! We are definitely "blessed" with days that show us what is to come! Today was actually a wonderful day, no meltdowns and bedtime was nice and mellow.
Bedtime has been the most challenging thing lately. Kekoa DOES NOT want to go to sleep. He'll scream and scream, cry and cry. The past few nights he has even been saying "mama leave" as he tries to push me out of his bed! I ask him if he wants to sleep by himself. "Yeah". I ask him if he's going to cry when I leave. "Yeah". When I do actually leave the room, he does cry, just to see what I'll do. When I've stayed out of the room, he gets off the bed and comes find me ( not hard to do in our tiny apartment!). I have found what works better is to actually lay next to the bed. After about 2 seconds, Kekoa says "sleepy with mama" or "mama sleepy right here", as he pats the pillow. This too shall pass right?
Scott and I are both hoping this is Kekoa's transition into falling asleep on his own. We can dare to dream.
He hasn't even wanted to come into our bed for the last two nights. When I try and bring him in, he throws a fit and cries. He tells me he doesn't want to sleep and wants to go back to his own bed! Great! Our little man is sure growing up!

His imagination has taken over, especially at night. He used to not care if his door was shut while going to sleep, but now he says "mama fix the shadow" (crack open the door). We need to get him a night light.

This month has also been one of success with peeing on the potty. Kekoa goes pretty much every evening before his shower and after his shower. We've had a few accidents when he's been running around "nunie", but not too bad. He had one #2 accident on the rug and since then actually wants to put on his pamper in the mornings!

No more baths for Kekoa, at least for the moment. He prefers showers, which are easier than baths anyway. He likes it when the tub is filled with a little of the shower water and he can "go swimming".

No longer does Kekoa call himself "Ke ke". He is now "Koa". Who is mama's love buggy? "Koa mama love buggy". Who is a froggy? "Koa mama froggy". It is really adorable. He actually refers to himself as froggy often! He says so many new things that blow us away constantly. One of his new words is "butt" as he rubs his! So cute!

Kekoa is still a great eater, eats so much that we really don't know where he puts it all. I am definitely feeding a family of 3 now, Kekoa eats adult size portions when he wants to. He really likes savory foods and not so much sweets. We have had a tub of animal crackers for well over a month now. He loves fruit and could eat grapes all day if I let him. I love that he now eats all kinds of sandwiches, besides just PB & J's. He'll tell me he wants "ham", which means a meat sandwich. The food I'm most surprised he likes is cucumbers...which he loves to dip in hummus.

99.9% of the days are so much fun with Kekoa. The best days are tantrum free or few tantrum days. It is definitely challenging when nothing is going right for Kekoa...he gets so emotional sometimes. Not sure where he gets this from! :)
I love having dance parties with him, taking him on the bike to ride the "choo choo steam", running in the jogging stroller with him, playing trains with him (he'll say "mama play choo choo tracks"), reading stories, and just snuggling up. He told me the other day when I was heading out the door for a run, "ai ni mama" (love you mama)...my heart melted big time! He is the most cuddly, sweetest little boy. I am so lucky to get to be home with him.