"Apparently today's the day," I thought, and I decided right then and there to potty train you immediately. You went all day without a single accident and had only 3 in the next few days. Those happened because Papa and I weren't really paying enough attention anyway. By Wednesday afternoon you were back in shorts without undies (we potty train bottomless). Friday you had your last accident. The following Monday you finally were in big boy underwear - not because you needed to wait that long, but because your little tooshie is, well, so tiny it's nonexistent and we had to order 12-18 month training pants from the internet and shrink them in the wash. You wake up dry most days, but you still sleep in a diaper cover over your undies just in case. Now, a little over two weeks after potty training, I hardly have to ask you if you have to go anymore. You tell me, even in public!
Now I can unbuckle you in your carseat and you get out of the car almost by yourself (although it takes a solid 5 minutes). Do you hear the angels singing praises? Oh wait, that would be your mama singing for joy.
You like to count things. You really like the numbers uno and tres, so you usually count like this: "Uno, tres, uno, ocho, uno, tres!"
Your favorite word these days is, thank you. You hand something to me and say, "thank you." I give something to you and you say, "thank you." You do something for me and you say, "thank you." I'm just wondering... Is there any chance it could stay that way until you're around 18? That'd be awesome.
You also LOVE to watch videos. Stuart Little is your favorite this month. We had our first family movie night several weeks ago. You were SO excited! We put a blanket down on our bed, popped popcorn, ate burritos and enjoyed the worst kids' Cars knock-off movie ever. Ok, actually you had a blast! Plus you enjoyed eating three bites of burrito and almost half the bowl of popcorn. Your Papa and I did enjoy seeing you have so much fun!
Now when Papa gets home, you yell and cheer and run to meet him (nothing new) but not before stopping and motioning for me to "come here!" with you to see him. It's SO cute! You motion for me to "come here," and say, "heeeere" often throughout the day.
You love to imitate me putting on make up.
You also say, "friend?" whenever you think you are going to a house where there are kids to play with. When we arrived at church two weeks ago, you saw the building and yelled, "pan!" (Which means bread. Our church serves Panera bread and Starbucks coffee on Friday nights.) You are using more English words than Spanish ones now, but your comprehension in both is still equal.
Two months ago, when we got you your tricycle, you could barely climb onto it. You still can't reach the pedals, but you've become quite skilled in zooming around the back deck chasing Toby, Fred Flintstone style. You even made it all the way around the block (with a little help on the hills towards the end)!
You have a healthy dose of fear of heights - which I wholly appreciate and relate to. You're not afraid to climb, so long as you feel you can securely hold yourself, but you're not a daredevil. You LOVE to swing at the park. You enjoy the slide, but the fast trip down involves a little less control than you like, so you rarely try it more than once or twice, although you are slowly working up to more.
Another new thing you are doing: You love to throw balls up in the air with two hands, like a basketball. Whether or not, you get close to making a basket, you try over and over! Your joy in persisting and practicing for the love of the game regardless of your supposed "success" (making a basket) or "failure" (missing) is an inspiration to me in my life. The lesson? Play for no other reason than the love of the game.
The most amazing thing?
Look at that form! Good gracious, you are one coordinated little two-year-old!
You even made four baskets! Which is more than I can say I made.
I like your slam-dunk style. You've got class.
My child, you are a joy. You are bossy and determined. You take initiative. You are creative. You play on the level of your friends. When you get together with Caleb, one of your favorite friends who isn't walking yet, you crawl all over the place, just to be on his level. What a great model of what a friend does! You are good-natured. You can talk up a storm in the car and at home, but you are quiet and timid in a new place or around new people. You are getting smarter and smarter and you have pulled the wool over Mama's eyes more than a couple of times in order to stay up later at night with drinks, extra potty trips, teeth-brushing and water. You have the best laugh ever, and my favorite is when you squish your nose up to mine, cup my face, and giggle. You do it spontaneously, and it says, I love you, unlike anything else I've ever experienced.
I love you too, kiddo, more than I could possibly express.
Kisses and hugs,
Mama
