TWO!!

Today you are two years old.  How is that even possible?  This age is my absolute favorite so far.  Of course, I say that with each new stage :)

You are a silly, sweet boy who loves to laugh and make others laugh as well.  You are a bit of a social butterfly and you make friends easily.  You love to be around people, and are enamored with “big boys”.  The times you are shy, which are few and far between, I am always very surprised.  You have made some good friends at school, and you are all very excited to see each other every morning.  You all squeal and say “Hi! insert name!” to each other.  But, Poppa and Naw Naw remain your favorite people.  You ask for them often, and occasionally get upset on the days you don’t go over to stay with them.

You are such a chatter box lately.  It took you a little while to start talking, but once you started, you never stopped.  You will repeat anything we say these days.  You say two-word phrases, mostly saying Hi to people and including their name.  You will repeat three-word phrases when we prompt you.  Just in the past week or so, you have started stringing a ton of gibberish together, along with just one “real” word.  It’s pretty funny.

You have been asking to sit on the potty, and you always go each time you’re on it.  We attempted potty training one weekend, but you weren’t feeling well so we let it go.  I do think you’re ready, but we’ll probably just see how it goes.  You do love your “ewmo peepeee” (elmo underwear, haha :) )

You still enjoy animals just as much as you ever did, and you’ve recently taken a big interest in trains.  In fact, the only show we can get you to watch is Thomas the Train.  You love to dance to the music on that show.  Well, technically you will also watch Barney, but you don’t request it and we are smart enough not to offer it as a choice :)

Speaking of dance, you LOVE to dance, and it’s so cute to watch.  You get so into it that you usually end up falling over.  Sometimes Daddy and I will pick you us and dance around with you, which you love.  You say “deep! deep!” which means that you want us to “dip” you. 

You are completely fearless.  You will explore anything, climb on anything, etc.  You love to climb up the ladder on your swing set and turn around and dangle your foot over the side while smiling at me because you know it scares me that you might fall. Stinker.

You have learned to blow raspberries on people and you think it is hilarious.  We usually end up with a ton of slobber all over us.

Some other things I don’t want to forget:

- You will often, out of the blue, give us a kiss.  Usually when we are just sitting around, you will come and give me a kiss, then go over to Daddy and give him one, and then continue going back and forth a couple of times.  So sweet.

- The way you always, no matter how tired you are, say “Hi Zo Zo” to Zoe the second you walk to the top of the stairs in the morning, because Zoe is always standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for you to torture her

- The way you say “saw saw” (sorry) and pet our cheek when you get in trouble

- Your little bounce up and down dance to Thomas the Train

- The comment we hear most often about you usually has something to do with your hair.  You have a ton of it and it has a mind of its own.  I had it cut short this last time (I think it was your 5^th haircut), but it’s just not “you”, so I think we’re going to let it grow back out and we’ll have to live with your crazy hair :)  At least you like brushing it!

- The many ways you say yes: Yaawww, yeah, yup!, yes

- How every time I ask if you’re excited to go see Poppa, you say “Yeah! Naw Naw?”

- How much you love blankets.  You sleep with 6 of them!

- You love love love to clean things.  We can give you a baby wipe or a washcloth and you will stay busy for an hour scrubbing things down.  You also love to use the broom and vacuum.

- You love to “hewwwwp” me cook in the kitchen.  Often you will just sit on the counter and pour in the ingredients for me.  You have learned how to lick the beaters to the mixer also :)

- You prefer to eat any frozen foods, frozen.  You never want me to heat up waffles, pancakes, or anything else from the freezer.  You even prefer popcorn shrimp frozen, haha!

- You run like a football player.  Head down, chest out, completely serious.  It’s hilarious.

- You love to read.  Your favorite book right now is Mr. Brown Can Moo.  You make all of the sounds and it’s adorable

- You have started saying “no, mama” if I ask you a question.  It sounds so grown up.

- You love to wear my shoes, play in my make up, play with my hair dryer and curling iron, and recently you have started trying to put on my clothes. 

- You aren’t really sure yet what the difference is between up and down.  You used to say down for both.  Now, you say “up down, up down” for them.  Haha :)

- If you think something tastes good, your eyes get really big and you say “YUMMY!!” and rub your belly.

- You are really into babies right now.  Whenever you see one, you run over and say “beebee”.  At Maddox’s birthday party, we spent a great deal of time staring at a “beebee” in his car seat :)  Sadly, when I ask if you want a baby brother or sister, you say “no, mama”

Basically, you’re awesome and we love you so much!