23 months

Here's hoping later I come back to write some text here.

One thing I will say is that my best birthday present was John teaching Elliott to say the following, which he now does just whenever it occurs to him, and with the sweetest, intentionally connecting face: Happy Birday, Mommy. I yuv oo, Mommy."

Other stuff before I forget:

He knows shapes and colors now, to our surprise.

We had two nights of no waking before 6 a.m. and then back to sleep (but other regular waking nights since). Before our trip Elliott wasn't nursing much during the day, just in bed in the

morning, maybe one time before we went out but often not, before nap and before dinner. We'll see what happens now that we're back home.

He's still enamored of "Mommy's car," wanting to stand on the driver's seat and listen to loud music. He often asks for "outside," and though I think it means he wants to play, he often really means he wants to get behind the wheel. But he does also ask for "backyard," and we kick the soccer ball around a lot. He also enjoys raking.

Inside Elliott enjoys mopping, as seen above. He likes hugging his friends, like Max from preschool (above). Elliott frequently tells me to "call Katie" so he can play with "Jo-Jo and Baby Tony." When our sitter was sick one Monday, we met Katie and family (including Maizy, the golden retriever, Elliott's first and favorite dog friend) at a nature center. We threw stones in the water, walked on the path and then observed a great horned owl they keep safely in a cage because it's not able to live in the wild. A few weeks later I told Elliott we were going to check out a different nature center adjacent to the place we take Music Together (which we just started back up). I was astounded that the word "nature center" was meaningful enough to him that he asked, "See owl?" They didn't have a real owl, but he was able to tell his dad later that day that he saw an iguana. He says it kind of funny, but he knows the word, that's for sure!

Okay, on to photos of Maine. Maybe more text on this time period later. It's fun and amazing.