Baby boy, you are 2 years old! Part of me wants to cry at how fast you are growing up, and the other part of me LOVES watching you change and grow into a precious little boy. You are most definitely no longer a baby - you know what you want, you know how to ask for it, and you have definite opinions if you don't get your way. We have started to have to discipline you a lot more because you have frequent meltdowns/tantrums over the most ridiculous things - i.e. I won't let you eat ice cream for breakfast, you have to put on a diaper, I take away the scissors, I played the wrong Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode, I give you milk to drink after you asked for milk to drink...you get the idea. You push limits and challenge us daily - a very normal and healthy thing, I know, but very challenging at the same time. We've started using the "Love & Logic" theories of giving strategic choices, and it works most of the time, but we occasionally just get "NO!" out of you when you don't want to do what we say. Then, we have to be the "bad guys" and force the issue which never ends well for anyone, so we are still working on it.
Let's talk routine - you have started going to bed and waking up a little bit later thanks to daylight savings, and we have decided to let that be. You go to bed between 8 and 8:30 at night and typically wake up between 7:15 and 7:30. On school days, you nap from about 12-2, and on weekends, you nap more like 1-3, but it's typically a good two-hour stretch. You have started sleeping with a pillow and blanket in your crib in preparation for the big boy bed transition (which I'm dreading), and I can't explain why watching you sleep on a pillow is so cute to me, but it just is.
You eat a LOT - usually three meals plus at least two or three snacks each day - and you drink even more! You LOVE any kind of sweet beverage - orange juice, apple juice, Fruitables boxes, Crystal Light fruit punch, lemonade, flavored milk, etc. You are pretty spotty on food, though, and you frustrate me with how finicky you can be. I've learned to accept that just because you loved a food yesterday doesn't mean you will eat it again today. Ugh. You refuse most meats, but your tried and true favorites that don't vary are fruit (you love them all - bananas, strawberries, applesauce, blackberries, peaches, oranges, cantaloupe, watermelon), french fries, tortilla chips, turkey dogs, rice, peas, yogurt, cheese, and any kind of sweet. You are currently obsessed with Oreos, but you really only want to eat the cream (which you call "meem"), and you love ice cream ("i-meam"). We've discovered you are pretty weird about combining any foods though - for example, you love tortilla chips and cheese separately, but when I make you cheese nachos, you won't touch them. Quirky little thing. Hopefully that's just a phase...
You are talking up a STORM! In the last month or so, you've started combining words together (ex: "mama car" or "basketball hoop"), and we've even caught a few very basic sentences lately. ("Carcar/I did it" or "Momo go too") You can count to ten in both Spanish and English and know all of your basic colors. You surprised me yesterday when you identified a few basic shapes - circle, square, heart, star - and you are starting to do more imaginative playing. You will take your helicopters or airplanes and "woosh" them around in the air as if they are flying.
You are definitely in a mine ("mise") phase, and you are obsessed with what belongs to who. You've also started wanting to "trade" with us - you want our fork if we get yours, for example. Odd, but at least you aren't just taking our stuff! :)
We are starting to wean you from the lovey by telling you that Momo is napping or not hungry or whatever - some days it works, some days it doesn't. We'll get there.
You are starting to like TV (praise Jesus!), and you love when we turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You will also watch Elmo or Dora/Diego for short periods of time, but unless we sit there with you, it doesn't last long.
You are going to be the absolute BEST big brother. You know your sister's name and you love to draw her pictures and "pat" her in my tummy. I know you don't fully grasp what is about to happen, but given your age, I'm very impressed with what you DO understand. You can tell me where her room is and point to her in my belly. You gave her a kiss the other day which about melted my heart. Your newest cousin was born last week (Grant) and you were obsessed with him at the hospital. You gave him kisses and wanted to pat him and loved watching me giving him a bottle at your birthday party. You are going to be the sweetest when it's YOUR baby sister!
Love you, angel boy!
