Gummy Bear: 2 Years!

Holy moly, time flies. Especially when you're pregnant and feel yucky. Now that that's passed, I remembered the birthday questionnaire I had. So it's two months late, but at least I remembered!

How old: 2!

Favorite foods: fruit snacks, raisins, cheese

Favorite dessert: chocolate (m&m's, chocolate chips), marshmallows

Favorite color: green (at least, this is the one color he recognizes by name)

Favorite book: ABC and numbers books (at the time of his b-day--now it's Train Man and Digger Man)

Favorite tv show: Paw Patrol, Thomas the Tank Engine

Favorite game: ???

Favorite Song: Follow the Prophet, Itsy Bitsy Spider

Favorite animal: kitty cat

Favorite toy: wooden train set

What do you want to be when you grow up: ???

What do you do really well: scream (ohhh he is SO loud...)

What do you like to do with your family: roughhouse with Daddy!!

Gummy Bear is a VERY busy boy. He keeps me on my toes, like any good two-year-old boy. He's as tall as an average three-year-old (which confuses the other kids, they have trouble remembering he's younger than they are), and still in the top percentiles. Funny story: His normal pediatrician is out on maternity leave, so we saw another ped for his 2yr appointment. She obviously didn't know he has always been in the 95% for weight, because when she saw that she gave me the childhood obesity lecture! "No juice, no 2% milk, lots of veggies, lots of playtime..." Yeah, ok, whatever. Have you seen my child?? He is not fat! Not even close. Thank goodness I was in a great mood that day, or I would have panicked. Just smile and wave, just smile and wave.

I love this picture because it sums him up nicely. Gotta have that binky (but only at bedtime...). Love that kitty. Fuzzy blankets are essential. Bruises, scrapes, and bandaids on his knees, and often on his arms and head. I feel like he's maybe accident-prone like his mama, but I suppose it's still too early to tell what's genetics and what is plain ol' little boy!

This block table showed up at our library and he enjoys playing with it. The first half a dozen times he insisted on sorting the blocks as best he could, and if the other kids came and tried to build on the wrong color, he got very upset. He's doing better about actually playing with the blocks for fun, but this still cracks me up. I have found his own mega blocks laying on the floor, stacked together by size and color. He eats his fruit snacks by color too, if he can see them all.

"Hewo!" (Oh, how I am going to miss that gap-toothed grin!) His speech is finally catching up as well. He says some things goofy, like "nilk", "nore", and "peesh" (milk, more, and sheep) but we're working on it. I can hear him singing songs, and he's steadily getting better at asking for things. I hope the crazy tantrums slow down after we reach a certain point, I think he gets frustrated that he can't communicate everything to me. He'll run up to me and garble a bunch of stuff and end it with a word he knows-- "Mama, aslekaf;skldfjjsdf snack?" Sometimes he sounds like he's oriental or something, when he garbles really quickly!

He knows his ABC's, and numbers 1-12. He knows a few shapes (circle for sure), the color green, and is absolutely in love with trains. We watch a decent amount of Thomas the Tank Engine, and he plays with his wooden train set diligently every day. A step behind trains are diggers and other construction vehicles--there's a bank being built by Husband Man's work and every day when we pick him up we have to drive by so GB can see the diggers. I've been getting him some basic nonfiction books about diggers and trains and they're the first ones to come off the shelf each day. He's definitely a smartie pants!

I love this kid and what he's taught me. I know he's going to be a great big brother!