Month 22, or Would you like some snow with that?

Dear Corbin,

You are 22 months old, and that's about how many inches of snow we got two weeks ago. We spent a while outside that Saturday shoveling, and then we spent a long time outside on Sunday shoveling. You were okay outside and you really wanted to help use the snow thrower, but then your dad took you down in the sled to Grandma and Grandpa's apartment to shovel the snow away from their doors, and he shoveled it right onto you. After that, you were happy to stay inside for a while.

You've been learning many new skills lately. You and Dad were playing balloon tennis, using your plastic frying pan as a racket. You love to climb up on things just to jump off of them. You learned that the dinosaur tub toys can squirt water all over the bathroom. You're getting better at brushing your teeth, which is good because your first set of molars have come in. But the most surprising thing is that you've been experimenting with potty training. It all started when Dad was home alone with you and needed to use the potty. That night, before your bath, you pulled your usual imitation of adult life and peed in the potty. So we got you a potty chair, which I didn't mean to leave in the dining room, but I put it down there when I brought it home and then you discovered it and now I guess it's just going to stay in the dining room. How very...unappetizing. So now when we change your diaper, you like to sit on the potty chair. Normally, nothing happens, but the other day you peed in the potty chair! Okay, you peed both in the chair and all over the floor, but it was a good effort. I'm really fine with the fact that you want to potty train about a year earlier than I was planning on, but I'd just like to warn you that it may come up someday that you owe us for cleaning up after you peeing on the floor for a whole extra year, and so no, you may not have the car tonight.

In other family news, you have a brand new cousin. Baby Ray was born yesterday, about 7bls and 21 inches long. Everyone is healthy and happy. We'll get to see him when we go to Indiana in January to visit. We'll be taking your infant wardrobe with us, because it's never too early to get your cousins used to wearing your hand-me-downs.

You are in Madison right now with Grandma and Grandpa Lam. You were fascinated by putting the Christmas tree in the van, and you're a hit as usual with the hometown breakfast joint. Dad and I took the opportunity of nights without you to see a movie, but not together. I'm not sure if that says we've got a really good relationship or not, but we each had fun seeing the same movie on different nights with different friends. Tonight we'll be finishing up the Christmas shopping, and tomorrow we'll be heading down to join you all in Madison. Yay, presents!

Love,
Mom


This is the snow that we had on Dec 3:

This is the blizzard on Dec 11:
This is you goofing around in the kitchen: