Maddox Currently

Currently, Maddox is 19-months and he...

Tells me when he has a wet/messy diaper. I am so nervous about potty training, you guys! I don't know the first steps about getting this kid out of diapers and I'm putting it off because it just sounds so hard and he's so strong willed that I feel like it's not going to work and we're going to get discouraged. (And all moms are like, "Yeah, obviously. Have you learned nothing?") Anyway, this month Maddox really started to realize when he has a wet or messy diaper and tells me! (I'm so sick of smelling his behind to see if he's stinky or not! < you would think that would be motivation enough.) He puts his hand on his butt and says, "Soos," which must be "poop" in Maddox-talk and then, sure enough! he's messy and we change him.

Is obsessed with throwing things away. Maddox is very helpful and likes to clean up all the time. He currently really likes to throw things away and so after every diaper change he takes his diaper to the trash and throws it away. Sometimes if it's super messy or really full I will do it and he basically loses his mind like I refused his nap or something. I'm also missing the lid to my ceramic mug (the only mug that I have that goes everywhere with me) and I will either find it when we move out (along with a whole trove of other things I didn't know I was missing) or it's long gone and buried deep in the landfill by now.

Says "bye" and leaves. Sometimes when we're playing, Maddox will just stand up, say "bah" (basically every word he says is some form of "bah" and you have to be fluent in Maddox-lingo to know which "bah" is which) and run away and go somewhere else to play. Usually, usually, this means he wants to be chased or play hide and seek and those are currently his favorite games to play with Evan.

Knows his body parts:  Sometimes I realize Maddox knows what I'm saying and I'm blown away by how quickly his mind picks up on things! It's so cool to watch him grow and develop and see how far he has come in just a year-and-a-half. Crazy. This is one of those things. For a while, Maddox thought it was funny to pretend pick his nose and so I asked him one day where his nose was. He pointed to it. So I gave him the run down of your basic body parts and when he knew every.single.one I moved on to things like elbows and legs and eyebrow. We're still working on those but we sing, "Head and shoulders, knees and toes," like 500-times a day and he's really into pointing out his belly/bellybutton to anyone and everyone.

Asks "where" with his hands. You know the universal upturned hands sign for "I don't know" or "where?" Well, this cutie has it down. And it's the cutest. I ask him where things are all day long because I love when he walks around with his hands in the air looking for something.

Stands still for pictures. I mean, I take a lot of pictures of this kid. A lot. I will say, "Stand over there, I want to take your picture!" And then he does. He'll stand still for about ten seconds and then he runs to me to see it. He'll oblige for about 2 seconds of this nonsense and then he's back to running around and generally not standing very still at all.

New words: Boo.  (Literally, boo. He hides behind things and peeks his head out and says, "Boo!") "Ha!" (Hi.) Beh beh. (Baby. Specifically when he's pointing to the pictures of himself on the fridge.) Bah! (Ball. Arms in the air in the "touch down" motion is football. When we say "football" he throws his arms up and Evan couldn't be more proud if he tried.) Bah! (Belly. To which he is constantly showing strangers or trying to show them mine while we're in public. Thumbs up to that, guys.) Joos. (Shoes.)