23 Months!!

Height: 34 inches! He has grown one inch in the last 6 weeks!

Canaan is just getting taller, starting to put more words together, has favorite friends and activities, and is just growing up so fast!

New Favorites!
Favorite Girl Friend: Sasha! He loves seeing Sasha. We see her three times a week, at church, at LST meetings, and she usually comes over the house once a week. He always is excited to see her and talks about her when she's not around.
Favorite Friends: Leonid and Leosha. These have been his best friends from church. We see them every week, as their parents are the most faithful attenders. The boys are 8 and just turned 2 years old. The oldest boy is so gentle and kind as he plays with Canaan. Canaan soaks up all the attention from the big boy! And his little brother, Leonid, calls Canaan his "droog" which is "friend" in Russian!
Favorite Toy: the Stroller. I must say that the stroller is his new favorite toy- and Mommy's favorite too! It makes it so nice as we go out. When Canaan walks, it takes about 12 minutes to get to the "big" playground near our house. It is the nicest, with a variety of things to play on, as well as lots of other kids around Canaan's age who are always there playing too. With the stroller, he just happily pushes it all the way to the park and back. He loves pushing it overtop of manholes, which are everywhere, even on sidewalks, up and down curbs or stairs or big cracks in the road, and up and down the slightest little inclines. He does really well walking with it, knows that when we go in stores he has to leave it at the front, and loves to switch out who rides in the stroller from day to day (the bear, Eyeore the donkey, his elephant, etc.).
Favorite Activity: Coloring. While he still loves to play with his cars and trucks, lining them up and pushing them back and forth multiple times every day, his newest activity he is growing into is coloring. Whether it be coloring with crayons on paper, on his new magnadoodle, or on his chalk board, he is an aspiring artist! He mainly draws verticle and horizontal lines, but has recently started adding some circular motions to his drawings! He likes to sit next to me on the couch and dictate things for me to draw. Then he colors on top of them. It is fun, and Mommy even throws some learning in by drawing letters and numbers that he identifies! It is a nice, relaxing activity for both of us!
Favorite Food: Borsh. Since Sasha taught me how to make it, I've made borsh soup a lot recently. It is nice in the cool weather we've been having. Plus, it is healthy, with beets, carrots, potatoes, onion, cabbage, and chicken (plus or minus whatever ingredients you happen to have on hand). Canaan has loved soup for a while now, but borsh is his new favorite. The other day when it was lunch time, Dougle and I were in the kitchen getting somethings ready. He walked right in a said, "Borsh soup please!" It was adorable!

Our Little Jabber Jaws!
I never thought that a child of mine and Dougle's would be such a jabber jaws, but at times, Canaan just can't be quiet. Now, sometimes he is very quiet and likes to sit and play by himself. But at other times, he just likes to talk and narrate everything. Many times if we don't pay attention or acknowledge what he has said, he will repeat it over and over and get louder and louder until we do! So, we don't get away with not paying attention! On no! Here are some examples of his narrations.
At the Table
"Canaan sit. Sit table. Up chair. Eat. Blue plate. Orange spoon. Potatoes. Eat...." Later. "Daddy all done. All done potatoes. Mommy all done. Mommy water. Canaan water. Daddy water. All done. Canaan down. Canaan play. Cars and trucks. Play."
In the Stroller
"Cars. Trucks. Green bus! Big bus! Big green bus! Car! Truck! People....."

New Words and Phrases
Words: page, yep (he used to say just yeah), gold fish, teacher, broccoli (okklee), stack, animal (mamel), clean, wipe (ipes), cream, sky, chalk, picture (icture), dirty, and more that I can't think of now!
New Phrases
I love you Daddy! The most special phrase of all. Sometimes he says it very short and sloppy and it comes out sounding like "AAhh-O-u." But other times he says it more clear, "I ove you!" He has been saying "I love you Daddy" and "I love you Mommy" for a few months now. It is so cute. He usually also says, "I love you Canaan." Now at night time, he goes through a list: "I love you Daddy. I love you Mommy. I love you cars. I love you trucks." Then he smiles and laughs. At least we still rank ahead of his cars and trucks!!
Button Up: It is cute, because whenever we are putting on a shirt or coat that needs buttoned, he says, "But Up!" One day it just popped out! I smile every time he says it!
Clean Up: At the table one day, he spilled some soup. I told him to clean it up and gave him a napkin. Well, anytime anything spills now, he wants to clean it up with a napkin or towel. He says, "Uh-oh, water. Keen Up!" What a big helper!
Door Please: He calls doors, drawers, and lids all "doors." Well, anytime I don't shut a drawer or door right away, he will say, "Mommy, door please." Sometimes I tell him to close it, or he just gets up and closes it for me. And when we are eatting breakfast and have the jelly jar out or something with a lid, and we don't put the lid back on it right away, he points to it and says, "Door Please!" That is our cue to put the lid back on!! Some things just don't look or feel right to him: open doors, jars or drawers are just a few of those things!
Wipes, Cream, Diaper. Speaking of having things in order, Canaan thinks wipes and cream are an essential part of every diaper change. Sometimes we don't need them all, but since we usually have him bring us his diaper, he insists on bringing us everything. Sometimes we have tried to save him the trouble of getting it all, when all he needs is a quick diaper change, no wipes and cream required. However, this ends up stalling the process even more, because he looks longing toward his wipes and cream, points to them, and says "Ipes, cream?" So, we just let him bring us whatever he feels we need!

Colors!
Ok, I have been working on colors with Canaan off and on for probably 6 months. Am I silly or what?! But, he was taking his good 'ole time catching on, and I thought with his love of order, counting, etc. that he would latch right onto colors. Nope. I was wrong. I was even to the point where I thought he was color blind! Yes, you can laugh. However, he has finally latched onto the color idea! He knows the three primary colors (red, blue and yellow) as well as green and orange really well. He also knows pink, white and black about 60 percent of the time. He has started pointing out the colors of everything now too. He talks about his "mall, booue choo-choo" (small, blue choo-choo), his "ed chok" (red chalk) and his "geek uck" (green truck). Today he was pointing out all the different color they painted the bars on the playground. Very cute. Mommy is so proud!!