Vessel Update

Vessel just hit 23 months on the 28th. I really can't believe that he is going to be 2 years old. It doesn't even seem like 2 years ago that we had him. Kids make your life go by faster, at least for me! But I think things keep getting better and better. Vessel is talking a lot more now. He copies EVERYTHING we say and do. A few weeks ago I taught him that if he needs to cough he should cough in his shirt and I showed him how to do it. Now everytime he has to cough, he pulls up his shirt to cough in it. He catches on quick.
Vessel loves to say "I miss you" or "I love you." Sometimes those phrases are 1 in the same to him. He always folds his arms during mealtime prayers and at church and knows right when to say "amen" which he says proudly and loudly.
He loves going to nursery and every Sunday we get to church he persists that we take him to nursery RIGHT THEN. He has a really good nursery teacher that he just loves, so I'm not surpised he likes going there so much.
He knows some of his ABC's now. He has a little ABC puzzle that has pictures that correspond with each letter. He can pick up a letter and know which word it goes with. For instance, the other day he found the letter "I" on the floor and picked it up and said "ice cream." I was kind of amazed. Vessel also knows some of his shapes. So far he knows circle, square, heart, moon, star, and triangle. I like to play a game with him where I draw a shape and he guesses what it is. He's getting pretty good at it. The other day we went to a friend's house and she had some wooden heart decorations above her entrance way and Vessel shouted, "heart! heart!" He also knows a few colors. White, blue, red, green, and yellow seem to be the ones he knows best. He LOVES to play with the Blokus game Mike got for his birthday. He could seriously play with it all day, just lining up the shapes and colors on the board.
He LOVES to sing songs. His favorites are "Head shoulders knees and toes," "Itsy bitsy spider," "Once there was a snowman," and "The wheels on the bus." Once we finish a song he always asks for us to sing more. He still loves reading books. We read books every morning when he wakes up. Sometimes he'll ask me to read the same book 3 or 4 times in a row. He still loves drawing and coloring. I think he'd pick doing that over playing with just about any toy you gave him. Although, he has been really into tractors lately. He loves playing with toy tractors and gets so excited whenever he sees a real one when we're driving. Not long ago the landlord started doing some landscaping at our old apartment. They had a "baby tractor" (as Vessel called it) taking all the small trees and bushes out of the front of the complex. Vessel used to sit at the window and just watch and watch without getting tired. Every day he'd wake up and run to the window to see if the "baby tractor" was there. It was so dang cute.
Vessel has a pretty good imagination lately. The other day he helped me connect all his markers together to make a long stick. Without my help he insisted that he "go fishing" as he pretended the markers were a fishing pole. I don't know how he even knows what it means to go fishing! Vessel loves to go on walks and never gets tired of playing at the park. He is adjusting well to the new house and has more rooms to explore and lots of stairs to climb up and down. He isn't completely potty trained yet, and I think that it's mostly my fault because I haven't been working with him. I've slacked off because of all the other stuff that's been going on in our lives recently. But he does wear training pants now, and he'll tell me when he goes poop or pee after the fact. At least he knows that he's done it. Now I just have to make sure he does it in the right place!
We had a scary incident a few weeks ago. One morning at breakfast he was just sitting in his chair and Mike was feeding him some banana with peanut butter. Because peanut allergies run in Mike's family, we've always just watched Vessel closely when he eats any peanut related food. He's never had a problem with it before until that particular morning. He was using his hands to eat the peanut butter covered banana pieces and then afterwards when I started to clean him up and get him dressed he was complaining to me that he was "itchy" and had an "ouch." Then I noticed that he was covered in little red bumps on his hands, arms, tummy, and cheeks. (everywhere he got peanut butter on himself.) Then a minute or so later he could barely talk and he sounded raspy like his throat was closing up. Mike and I FREAKED out and were about ready to rush him to the hospital. Before doing anything Mike decided we should say a prayer. Luckily Heavenly Father answered our prayers and we didn't end up having to take Vessel to the ER. (It was a real testimony builder!) After a few hours his red bumps went away and his voice sounded normal again. Needless to say, we don't let him anywhere near peanuts or peanut butter anymore! Kind of crazy how the allergy decided to show up after who knows how many countless times he had PB before. But I hear allergies can be that way. Sometimes they just develop abruptly even if you've never had a problem with them in the past. Anyway, I'm glad our little guy is okay! I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to him. I don't think I could live with myself.
Anyway, Vessel truly is a joy to our lives. He is growing and learning rapidly. And he has such a sweet countenance. Of course, there are those times when he REALLY shows signs of the "terrible twos" but that's to be expected right? Despite those times, he is without a doubt one of the most amazing kids ever!