Peter's current obsession is the Cars movie - he loves all the characters and talks about them perpetually - Sally, Doc, Mater. He loves it when I tell him a story about Lightning McQueen coming to his house and taking him on a ride to Radiator Springs. He also has an imaginary cat named "Joshua" who he always stipulates be included in the story. Joshua is blue, black, grey and purple and has his own carseat.

Peter is potty-training. We have been at this some weeks now, but I feel we've had some major breakthroughs recently. Namely, he will take the initiative to go to the bathroom himself. Afterwards he'll talk about how went "all by myself" and brag smugly about how "babies can't go peepee on the potty. Babies go peepee in the diaper. Only big boys go peepee on the potty." We still average approximately one 'accident' a day, but things are moving. I'm quite motivated to have him out of diapers by the time his sibling arrives.

Peter is also in a "why" stage: Why Matt and Lark go home? Why they eat dinner? Why I eat pasta? Why everyone bouncing on the bouncy castle? Why I have bath?

As you can imagine some of these questions lead me down a chain of inane explanations - i.e. you have a bath because it's almost bedtime. It's almost bedtime because it's getting late. It's getting late because the sun has gone down. Er, I have no idea really.

Another big phase Peter is in is an "I don't like" stage. He doesn't seem to know how to say "I don't want", or maybe he just realises he gets a better reaction from "I don't like." So if you've given him the wrong thing, there's a toddler tantrum and "I don't like my car!" (which was his "favourite" 10 minutes ago) or better yet "I don't like Mummy! I don't like Daddy!" At other times he's very clear: "I like Mummy. I like bunnies. I like Daddy too." (Hopefully not in that order.)

What I'm loving about this stage is the story-telling. The most interesting details come to light. When telling you about a trip to the park, the highlight is talking about the plastic flamingo he saw. When you innocently ask if it was pink, he looks at you blankly and says "No." Sure enough, on viewing it, the flamingo is so sunbleached it's not actually pink.

He also doesn't totally get that we might not remember things if we were not actually present. "Sethie fall down in the park - cry cry. 'Member dat?" Um, no my dear - I have to be there to remember things.

Overall he is such a loving, hilarious, confident little boy (except when it comes to Easter bunny viewing.) We just love having him around.

It's interesting to watch Peter's verbal skills improve and his patterns of thinking getting more sophisticated. Yesterday, he came home very insistent that he wants to go to preschool. I don't think Peter actually knows what preschool is, so naturally I was interested to know why he would want to go. The reason? Because if he goes to preschool, he will (apparently) need a backpack. And he wants a "Racecars" backpack, just like a child at his daycare who attends preschool a few mornings his week. I believe his exact words were "I want go preschool. I go preschool, get Racecars backpack, jus' like Sethie." It's amazing to see his little mind makes leaps and bounds like that. I'll admit, there are some rather obvious flaws in his logic, but it's pretty cool nonetheless.

Last month, Peter's daycare was closed for a month. During that time, he was doing a bit of a shuttle back and forth between various people and it was a little disruptive for him. There were many teary mornings, and to calm him down, it was sometimes necessary for his caregivers to resort to TV. So now, Peter has been introduced to Disney, in particular to "Cars", or as he calls it "Racecars!" I have not seen this particular show myself, but having read the Wikipedia synopsis, it sounds fairly harmless. The difficulty is that there is a lot of "Cars" merchandise, and as the recent backpack request shows, he now has the capacity to wish for and demand it. I believe in the past 24 hours, I have been reminded about his desire for a "Racecars" backpack no less than 30 times. So now I have a dilemma - do I give in to a fairly simple and cheap request? ($12.99 at Toy's'r'us; I checked.) Do I get him something else that I'd rather him have, like a funky backpack with a dinosaur on it instead? Or is that like giving a child a hamster when he wants a dog?

In other Peter news, we are potty training. Part of my impetus is my desire to get him out of diapers before #2 arrives. He is doing fairly well. We have #1s down, so long as we remind him to go. Interestingly, he does well at daycare, but sometimes get distracted at home. We're still having mixed success on #2.

One negative thing we've dealt with lately is hitting. When he gets frustrated, he hits me quite a bit. We actually had an incident when we were out where he grabbed another child by the collar and yanked him too, which was, um, not good. He's always been such a snuggly, non-rambunctious guy so we're struggling with this one. Unfortunately, I have not found the perfect discipline tool for this other than threatening him with going to his room when he lifts his hand. And sending him there when he does. That works, but it doesn't feel entirely right to me. However, no end of explaining, acting sad, telling him why we don't do it, etc. works, so I'm at a bit of a loss, since clearly I cannot allow him to hit me. It really hurts. Most of the hitting seems to be me, and not kids at daycare, so that's at least one not so negative thing - I'm a little more able to protect myself. And I also know it's a normal stage, so we'll get through it - hopefully sooner rather than later.

I feel sort of bad that I haven't documented this pregnancy as well as I did with P's. In a lot of ways the pregnancies are similar, but I've found this one more physically and emotionally draining, especially lately. I haven't had that surge of energy I did with Peter - I'm still tired a lot of the time and have various other aches and pains that I didn't experience (or don't remember) from the first time. But without further ado, I introduce you to #2 - she is very cute isn't she?

Yes, I said SHE. We are very excited about having a little girl. Unfortunately, we've had a bit of a scare after there were some abnormalities spotted on our ultrasound. We had a very frightening week, but after some blood testing and a meeting with a genetic counsellor, our fears have been greatly alleviated. We will still need to look into a few things after birth, in particular a kidney issue, but we're feeling pretty confident that all is well and hopeful that everything will resolve itself by the time she is fully baked. In the meantime, please enjoy looking at her! For contrast, check out Peter's ultrasound pics - they look sort of the same, but sort of different so I can't wait to see how this little one turns out!

Yesterday we entered our hotel room and I told him we'd be sleeping their tonight. He threw himself on the ground in distress. When I asked him what was wrong he told me "This new house no fun!"

At dinner he went to the washroom with Julian for a change; while there he (apparently) saw a urinal. He came back to the table and announced at the top of his lungs that he had seen a "peepee robot!"

A lot of what he finds funny is also scatological (curses on Elmo's Potty Video for teaching him about 10 different ways to say #1 and #2) so I won't share them all as I'm sure that doesn't need to be broadcast on the 'Net, but there's more to come.

Peter is so much fun these days. For one thing, he's a chatterbox. I love that. He is always asking "What you doing?" or "Where X going?" He has to ask approximately three times so he can be really sure.

He also likes to relive his day or some show he's watched. The other day we were outside on a walk and he announced with great seriousness that "Fwanklin don't like cwibbage." Julian just stared at him blankly, but after a second it dawned on me that a few days earlier he'd been watching a Franklin video where the little green turtle explains he doesn't like cribbage, and instead prefers checkers. Random! Peter informed us he also does not like cribbage, so we assured him we do not currently own a set.

Some of his cuter expressions these days:
"My favourite!" as in "Mmmm, peas, my favourite!' or "Jingle Bells Grandma's new favourite song!" (Um, I doubt it)
"Cuddle time" as in a demand for a snuggle.
"Haywire!" - not sure he knows what it means, but he heard it in the aforementioned Franklin video he has and often tells me things are "going haywire." He might think it's an actual place though, and he usually has to chase them down if they are going there.
"I okay!" when asked if he has to use the potty, feels sick, is tired, hungry etc. If he is not, he chirps, "No, I okay!"
"I do it myself!" - guess this is hallmark of age 2!

He's also started to count. He has known his numbers for a while, at least to 10. It gets a little dicey after 12. However, recently has actually been able to count how many of a certain thing there are, rather than just parrot them back to us, at least when we're under the number 5.

He does things that make us laugh all the time; for example, pulling a bag of nut slivers out of the cupboard and pouring them all over his dinner, then announcing "Look Mummy! A castle!" or calling a woman running by a "little boy."

What can I tell you about his personality? Well, he does remind me a lot of myself as a child. He is quite determined to get his own way, and occasionally bats his very long lashes to get what he wants. He does tantrum when he doesn't get his way. He also likes to have things explained to him.

He can be a very sensitive soul. We try to rarely raise our voices and when we do, he cries. For example, he was standing in his high chair and trying to climb over the back of sofa and I yelled "Sit down!" (after having said it three times) and his lip jutted out and he burst into tears. He's a worrier too. After seeing Peter at the local family centre, he became very anxious about going there. And we've been telling him about a new daycare situation he'll be in for January (our provider is away for the month), and we when we went over to check it out he had to repeatedly be reassured that we weren't leaving him there that day.

Hopefully he will react well to his new little sibling, arriving mid-June. We went to the midwife earlier this week and since then he has been telling us how he "pressed the button" (on the Doppler machine) and "listen Mummy's baby's heart" which went "chicka,chicka,chicka". So crazy to think that we will love this second little bean as much as we love our little man.

Anyway pour little mite has been sick with a fever for the past few days, so if you're reading send him lots healthy vibes for 2010.

NB: Photos on this page taken by threebirdphotography.com.

Around the house can be heard the words - "Dat MY candy????"

to this...

to this...

in just 24 months!

"I helping!" (in response to me saying "I need that" and trying to take something away from him. He helped me carry it to my room.)
"I NEED that" (when you try and take something away or when he wants something you have - I know where he picked that phrase up).
"Train coming soon!"
"Peter, ride, airplane" (loves to talk about himself in the third person)
"Grandma not here..." (alternatively, Amy, Tony, Matt, Nana etc... not here! Good to know.)
"Peter pinching Mummy!" (he was and it hurt)
"Kiss!" (What he does right after pinching me!)
"No, no, no, no, no" (emphatically! I'm trying to stop saying "no" so much - when I stop and listen it's amazing how many times I say this a day, and it's not always necessary.)
"No run street Grandma" (after being thoroughly talked to for running across to the street to see Grandma, right in front of a car, he frequently reminds me of this important rule.)
"Watch me!"
And our favourite "Go 'way Mummy! Far 'way!" (I cannot take credit for that; I know for certain neither Julian nor I have ever told him to go away... )

Peter at 23 months - he changes every day. The last few weeks his language just seems to continue to explode. I noticed today that he has dropped some of the funny names he calls people and is pronouncing them much more clearly. He's been calling the little boy at day care (real name Mikayo) Mano for months, but today it was 'kayo. And Grandma, long known as "Mahma" is now plain old "Gramma." He can say his ABCs clearly - he no longer says "ELMOOOOO PEEEE!" for "L,M,N,O,P." (I thought it was kind of funny that he thought Elmo was a letter.) He can count to 12 in English and Spanish, although he sometimes skips "7". It's wonderful, but it just changes so fast, and soon we won't even remember these little funny things he used to do.

Another thing he has started doing is "recalling" things - telling us about his day, or even things that happened several days ago. The other day I came home and he shouted "Mummy! Park! Ice Cream!" over and over. Julian turned a shade of red once he realised that Peter had tattled on him for feeding him ice cream at the park before dinner (although the sticky hands were another dead give away.) I asked him why cried on the bus today and he said "Down!" Which is true - he wailed because Julian wouldn't let him get down. And he is still talking about farm animals we took him to see last weekend. ("Feed! Ducks! Pat! Goats!")

It's funny to hear him pick up our expressions. When he wants me to come to him in the crib he sing-songs "This way, Mummy!" just like I say "This way, Peter" when trying to herd him to daycare. Or in the bath tonight he looked up at me hopefully and said "Last time?" when I shut off the shower nozzle even though he wanted to keep playing with it. My personal favourite is "Right back!" which he says just before dashing to the kitchen or his room to grab another toy.

The other cool thing is that he seems to just absorb a lot more and understand a lot more. When we call my younger brother he asks after the dog. He wonders aloud if Grandma will come to visit. It's quite amazing to see how his brain is developing to have so much more information roaming around in it.

He is obsessed with trucks, particularly fire trucks, trains and cars. It's funny because we haven't leaned towards buying these kinds of boyish toys. Has has a dollhouse set and he likes it fine, but a fire truck???!!! That is what dreams are made of! Also, robots. I have no idea how he even knows what a robot is, but these days everything is a robot, even his diaper pail. And parking metres.

He also loves to have a stuffed animal under his arm and frequently takes his bear, Big Belly, to daycare. His three favourite songs are Baby Beluga (Raffi), Money Money Money (Abba) and Lola (the Kinks). Strange assortment, I know.

Oh and he's starting to get very possessive. Whenever he sees a picture of me holding him as a baby, he gets jealous - "MY Mummy!" he says with a pout. He doesn't yet get that "Baby Peter" is him. Have to admit, I think it's adorable.

Anyway that's our guy at 23 months! He just keeps better and better!

He's into a lot of pretend play now, which is pretty neat. He is very fond of his bear, who frequently gets taken to daycare, and enjoys lots of other adventures. He just told me "Bear loves bubbles!" Does he now?

The other fun part is sentences. More and more he is communicating like a "big kid". His toddler inflection means I don't always catch what he is saying. Rs sound like Ws, Th is D, Gs sound like D(j) and so on. Some longer words get their own translation: "Track-a-tor" for tractor, and "Peek-a-doo" for Peekaboo. His own name becomes "Petie!" Yesterday he was very insistent that he wanted "bucktea" to eat, but I still haven't figured out what that is. And he still uses some funny words like a rumbly "hmmmm" for car, which is the sound effect he used to make when signing car. He's dropped the sign, but not the sound effect, and no matter how many times we call it a car, he refers to it as a "hmmmm". But since it's supercute, I'm sure I'll feel a bit of a pang when he starts using the "real" word. When he's wondering if he left teddy in the car he says "Bear hmmm?"

Despite this, a lot of times he is crystal clear: "I want cookie!" "Daddy go outside" and yesterday, in a six word extravaganza (his longest sentence ever) "Mummy, I want other side mukmuk." (Mukmuk is his word, which we've adopted for milk)

It's also just interesting to hear these little conversations he has with himself where he's mimicking conversations he just had with me - I just told him not draw on his knees, so he's sitting with a pen and paper muttering "No knees!"

The other interesting thing is that, even though he is immersed in Spanish, he seems to keep the words almost entirely separate. There are just a few exceptions ("Gracias, por favore and agua (one of his first words)" - clearly his daycare provider has been more successful at teaching him manners than we have!) I do wonder sometimes when he's frustratedly telling me something he wants, if it's just because he's using a Spanish word I don't understand. But for the most part he knows that he says "Bye-bye" to us and "Adios" at daycare, which is quite fascinating to me.

He has started using more and more sentences like "I want Cookie," or "I see keys" (which means "I would like to see them - HAND EM OVER!") I just figured out what his sentences were this weekend because they sound like "awan cookie!" so I didn't realise he was saying "I want" (or maybe he's just saying want, who knows.)

He understands a lot more too - I can tell him where we're going, even "bargain" a bit. I love that!

Oh, one of his most often used words is "MINE!" "My phone." "My keys!" Or when you try to cross the street holding is hand he yanks at his arm yelling "MY! MY! MY!" as if you were planning to take his hand right off (tho sometimes you have to hold it pretty tight, so it might feel like that). I notice he's using it more when we won't let him do things, like play at the door for hours (he loves to open it). "My door" he cries! "Yes," I tell him. "Your door. It's yours." (But we're done playing with it!!!)