You are 26 pounds now and getting taller by the minute. Not that you'll stand still long enough for me to find out exactly how tall you are. You're still my skinny peanut, though, small enough to sit in your Tonka Truck. You wear 24-months clothing, but I have to put draw-strings in every single pair of pants you own. You are officially two and half now (plus 29 days).
On November 22nd, you said your first prayer all by yourself before bed. You said, "Dios, gracias por mi, Toby, Mama." ("God, thank you for me, Toby, Mama.") Your Papa and I about cried, it was so sweet.
The bedtime routine got really tough there for a while. In December we helped you get rid of your pacifier by cutting a small hole in the tip, and at the same time you quit taking your afternoon nap. You looked at your pacifier, told us it broke, and after a couple of nights trying to suck it, decided it wasn't worth the effort anymore. We were surprised how easily you dropped it and this time you didn't use your thumb as a substitute. I still find you sucking nothing or your tongue while you sleep sometimes, which I think is the cutest thing ever and reminds me of when you were first born. The first couple of nap- and pacifier-free weeks were rough, but things have settled down now and most nights you go to bed like a champ. It takes you less than 15 minutes from, "It's bedtime, kiddo," through teeth-brushing, pajamas, water, potty, the running flying leap into bed and prayer, to kisses goodnight. You're Papa and I sure appreciate how smooth that goes.
You like to go potty by yourself, but I rarely let you do the whole thing alone, as you don't quite clean up everything well yet. Oh, and you like to unroll the toilet paper onto the floor as you sit there. Or into the toilet. That's not my favorite.
You love to run, jump, do somersaults, and jump on the bed from your feet to your bottom. You are quite coordinated at it and it's tough for Papa and I to keep from laughing and remain stern in our reminders not to jump on the couch. We let you jump on our bed, though. You'll only be small enough to use it like a trampoline for so long, right?
You helped Papa squish down the Fall leaves. You loved it.
You use long, detailed complete sentences now. They're not even close to grammatically correct, and you mix Spanish and English up together, but it's super fun having conversations with you.
Some of my favorite words that you say:
"oooo-eee" - This is what you call the computer. You are saying, "movie." It took me months to figure out that's what you were saying!
"gashas" - gracias
"Deeee-poh" - Home Depot
"BIG poo poo!" - I know it's gross. But it's just too funny.
"Toh-mas Train! BIG train!!" - You pronounce Thomas like it's Spanish. I love it! Makes me wanna name a second kiddo Thomas. Sort of.
"Mama, sit here. Help Danny train. Go up up up!!!" - Mama sit here and help Danny build the train so it goes up up up!
"Papa's working," and "Papa's HERE!"
"I fink it!" - You pronounce this like, "I find it," only with a k on the end. You say it with wide eyes and open arms like it's the hugest announcement in the world.
"Te amo!" - (I love you!) You haven't said this one on your own yet. But it's still cute even if we're telling you to say it.
"jan-jan" - The J sounds like an H. This is how you say naranja (orange).
"cocker" - cracker or cookie You ask for this at EVERY SINGLE MEAL.
Anything you say while grabbing my cheeks and turning my face so that I'm looking you in the face.
My least favorite things that you say:
"No." - Go figure.
"Mine." - While grabbing it away from me or another child.
Crying, yelling fits when you don't get your way. And the whining. Oh, the whining. I sure hope this stage doesn't last long.
Your favorite toy right now is your train set. You have spent countless hours playing with it, and it's the one toy set that I enjoy as much as you do, so we play with it a lot.
You enjoy picking your own clothes and you adore your red Croc tennis shoes. I adore that you put your shoes on by yourself usually on the right feet. This particular evening, you chose your over-sized truck tank top, your too-small sweatshirt, whitie-tighties, and snow boots. I took about a gazillion pictures of you that night.
Among your favorites, second only to trains, are airplanes.
You love pretending to be an airplane.
You hug me tightly when they fly over our house. You were intimidated by the one at Focus on the Family's Whit's End, but once you lost your nervousness, you enjoyed it immensely. You are pretty good at making airplanes with Legos, paper, or just about anything.
You made this one with Grandpa Shaun when he visited at Thanksgiving. You made the body of the plane and then he added the wings with tape.
You love wearing your airplane pajamas.
New play places are intimidating to you, especially if they are loud and busy. You usually need to stand back and watch other kids play for 10 or 15 minutes before you are ready to try. But once you are ready, watch out! You run right along with the big kids. You are still too short to climb up the McDonald's and Chick-fil-A play structures, but you are skilled at befriending little girls a foot taller than you who will help. When that fails, or little girls are not to be found, you'll use Mama's or Papa's hand as a foot-step to get right on up.
You are also skilled at stealing Papa's pumpkin pie.
You are a sing-songy kind of guy. You often sing a little song while you play. One day you had the radio on, were banging away at the piano, and were singing and laughing along.
You love it when Grammy visits. You definitely remember her and know her, even though you only see her every couple of months.
After she left a week ago, you saw her picture on the refrigerator and exclaimed suddenly, "Grammy here!!" You were so pleased that she was there on the refrigerator for you to say hello to whenever you wanted.
You are sweet and cuddly only when you are tired at the end of the day, or when you've crawled into bed with us at the beginning of the day (which has become a ritual), but occasionally you will surprise me by throwing your arms around my neck and kissing my lips.
You're into all kinds of new adventures these days. I do love you so my sweet boy. More and more each and every day.
Love,
Mama
