Dear Keaton,
You have a laugh I could pick out from the crowd. Line up a group of two year olds and ask them to laugh, and I would be able to pick yours out every time. It involves a full head tilt back which isn't really possible in your car seat much to your dismay. The slight growl at the end of a giggle fest means that you are extra giddy.
After reading a story, you hide under your blanket while daddy or I turn out the light, then you want us to say "Where's my Keaton? Is he under the bed? In the closet?" Then you cuddle up and fall asleep under your new blankie from your Great Uncle Billy - It's a nod to when he used to cuddle in a snoopy sleeping bag as a kid.
You love building forts with your brother. This school break had a fort building theme fo sure. Your new blankies work well. You insist on bringing specific lego figures in the fort with you. So most forts have a tiny pile of legos in the corners.
You love the little piano practice routine where you get to listen to your brother playing and then as he finishes you clap and say, "Thank you my best bother!" with a big hug around his back. Your dad caught you guys just spontaneously hugging each other while sitting in your tiny matching chairs while watching tv the other day.
It's funny when you laugh at your brother being goofy in the car. He's your favorite entertainment. You'll say, "Aiden do something funny like some monster stuff!" You love to be scared. You quickly said that your fav part of the movie Frozen was big snow monster... and went on to describe his scary face and long arms.
You still can't quite figure out if you need or want an afternoon nap. Sometimes you skip it all together and just need a rest. Other times you take almost a two hour nap... Hard to predict, although I know it will be a good nap after school most days. You asked the other day, "When we get home can I resty rest?" Resty rests are the best kind of rest.
You love the Dragons Love Tacos book that jokes that Dragons can't eat spicy salsa. You joke whenever you pick up a food item, "There is the fine print! It's says spicy!" You and your brother love that Ring of Fire song - You wander around stomping and singing "go down, down, down..."
There were presents galore for Christmas, but you mostly wanted to concentrate on whatever you just opened instead of moving on to the next one right away. You got a fancy new watch from your Gran and Pop. You loved telling everyone, "My watch says it is not time to go to target!"
You love the silly sock puppet ornaments on our tree. They got lotsa kisses. Your real socks were favorite toys. You loved making sock gloves and putting socks on the Frosty and Rudolph guys. You like to joke that some guys are gingerbread men and you will eat them up.
When you heard the White Christmas song, you insisted, "It's blue Xmas not white!" You can tell that Rudolph is playing after first note plays. You like to pretend that every Xmas song is Rudolph. You said, "Halloween time is over, but maybe they have a santa pumpkin or reindeer witch?!"
You found some pudding at the store that you insisted on as a "special treat!" You kept mentioning Smash Burger even before we'd actually been there. We did go and boy it was yummy. The baby sludge you sometimes create after eating noodles is such a strange thing since you only create it occasionally. You are a funny duck and want to pick out your own food sometimes. At Target the other day you wandered around begging for a bacon cheddar pack of Beggin Strips for dogs. You insisted it would be delicious.
You create funny stories and use your imagination in the funniest two year old ways. You have a happy button, sad button, mad doggy button! You asked, "Can I make a button for everything?! For all my animal noise stuff?!" You make up funny stories, like "Those bugs in that book eat me, then stung, then poked my shirt away!" What are daddies doing? "Oh that's right, they work, and rock, and are busy eating monsters."
You loved playing pretend grocery with your friends at school. When your teacher tried to hand you the empty syrup bottle and asked if you wanted it in your cart, you said, "no thanks, it's empty!" When we were walking in the other day, you asked "Are you the mommy helper today?" So you get that there are certain days were I get to coop and help out in the classroom.
When I was pulling out some recipes to make cookies, you said "Is that your cookie bookie, mommy? I like them all!" We got all our backyard debris cleaned out and we were left with a round fenced area that you were convinced must be used for dancing. "Let me in, I'm grooving!"
You told your babysitter "Ms. Melissa sometimes today I cry for no reason, but it be ok..." So you understand that you are just fussing for the sake of fuss sometimes. One time you asked for something I didn't have and I asked, "Will crying make it appear?" Your reply was an adamant "Yes!"
You loved jumping on the Mall Bounce for the first time. You went pretty high and it must have felt even higher. You loved going up in the climbing structure at the Burger King on the road. Such a big independent kid. You made a paper chain at school on the last day with the number of rings until school resumes. It seemed like a great idea, until you didn't want to rip any of the paper that your chained and stapled together so carefully. You will be excited to be back at school regardless.
You love to whine about things you already have or things we've agreed to give you. It's your two year old style although you are getting past most of it - Sometimes the "I want to sit by daddy" request is indulged, so you still whine for that one.
Some favorite quotables:
Knock knock, who's there? Car! Car who? For $50 you can get a spicy!
Aiden: Daddy?! Keaton: No he's my daddy! Daddy: Keaton, who's Aiden's daddy? Keaton: Mommy!
"Let's go to the moon and be astronauts!"
"Mommy, let me see the picture with giggles!"
I know there are many more quotable moments to come, and you can't fool me even if you insist you are still a little baby.
Love,
Mr. Mama or Mama da Mama
Here are some video snippets of smiley guy's first toe dip in the ocean, swimming/floating, and hunting for cool coral.
