Hi Keaty,
You run up to me with a favorite shirt on or an animal to hug, and declare, "I cute baby guy!" Yes, I'm your super biased mom and you're my sweet, cute baby guy who is getting to be such a big boy! How can you be a month away from 2 years old?! When you're two you'll still run up with your arms held out wide, yelling "Huggie, hug, hugggggie!" ...you'll still throw your little shoulders back when you get excited... you'll still give me that scrunchy smiley every once in a while ...you'll still want all the "big spicies" over the "baby sized" ones, right?! Right?! I know that it just keeps getting better and better, but pease and tank you for staying baby sized a while longer?!
February with all its hearts and love (despite being my least favorite blah winter month) taught you to pick out hearts everywhere and kiss everything with your "tulips" - You say two lips really fast and your brother even created a new riddle about a flower on your face to add to his expanding joke book. You love to laugh as he reads the jokes, because you go along with whatever mood your brother brings. If you guys are after the same toy, your brother likes to tell me that you have a "fake say" when you come to complain about him taking a toy from you. He's not calling you a liar, just a fake sayer.
You will shout out "Whoa, I fast!" after crashing head first into the couch or chair of your choice. I'm just glad you pick the cushioned spots most of the time. You are such a funny guy that if you fall over you will say "Sorry, I ok!" You love the little chairs we have (you have a blue to match your brother's beloved red) and you even have taken to running while holding the chair on your back like it's a turtle shell.
You are getting the hang of going down steps and you want to try them on your own. You love hanging like a monkey at gym class, jumping on the half ball, and running with a tiny gallop. You like to get to the gym early and "help" me pull out the mats so that you can run in the big circle, your favorite part of the class. Or maybe second to parachute time. They have a mini parachute at the Children's museum but they don't let kids go under it which you think is a total sham.
When your grandparents were here you enjoyed calling out "Dinna time!" They joked, "Are you sure it's not Breakfast?!" So you hopped around and said, "Sure, Bekfast time!" You love seeing your grandparents and despite feeling icky you hopped in the van to go pick them up. It wasn't until a few minutes after we picked them up that you showed us how sick you really were. Poor bub. You still wanted to play and you went from giggling to running to me to get sick in less than 5 seconds.
You like to repeat things that get people to laugh. You say all the parts of your knock knock jokes over and over. Knock, knock who's there? Are you? Are you who? The funniest thing that you like to repeat every time we take you outside and it is cold you say, "Santa coming?"
You love the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game, and when you don't have any other distractions you will take turns nicely and play it for a long time especially when it is just you and me. You know to match the colors and will usually announce which color you are after. You especially like singing the Patty Cake song with your daddy. You are more willing to go to sleep all on your own with daddy's help lately. You will say "Sleepy Nighty Night!" and trot off to your bed. Now if we could just convince you that 5am is too early to wake up for the day.
You guys love to jump around just like your jumping Hex bugs. That arena gets hopping and you guys get the jiggles. You thought it was fun watching the Super Bowl and cheering go, go, go whenever you spotted the ball. You still love playing soccer which consists of a lot of chasing after your brother. You usually want to do whatever it is that your brother is doing including trying to play chess. You're pretty good at helping carefully move the pieces. You know the "red turtle guy Radfiel" and April are your favorite figures to demand. It's hard to believe how much you imitate your brother and even harder to believe that he is usually patient with you.
You are at that age when sometime you say something very distinct over and over that we can't quite figure out. For instance, ACoap = Coat. Some garbled expressions sound exactly like other words, like you were running around squealing "89!" Turns out it meant 'it feels nice' when daddy tussles your hair. You would shove your little head under his big hand for a little rub.
You loved seeing Mickey on Ice and were genuinely peeved that he didn't stay out the entire show. You called out "Mickey Mouse!" in your sleep loud and clear. You love the new Mickey cd where they sing your name and you dance with Mickey as you listen.
You can sing along to the alphabet song really belting out certain letters: P, S, V! You've started using the past tense more than you used to. You like to refer to all circles as soccer balls. You hear birds chirp and yell out "duck!" You hear a plane and say "see plane UP in the sky!" You love to say Upe with emphasis.
Sometimes when you are grumpy you throw your fist out and wave it whatever is bothering you. But that little cute hand can't look that mad. If you are tossing cereal or crackers on ground you will shout out Sorry as you do it. You frequently ask to sit on the potty seat (and even left a little valentine's treat) and then ask for "pivacy pease" (just like your brother).
You like to ask for specific things to eat. "Juicy water pease!" You accidentally started gobbling your brother's very realistic playdoh cookie. You were so bummed it wasn't real. You have weird preferences like dipping raisins in soy sauce. You love asking for "more roni please! I like pepperoni" Then the strangest is slipping a pepperoni into your water and stirring it up into "roni juice!"
Your shoulders have a lot of expressions. When they are hunched forward you are a little scared as you confront a snake face to face through the glass or a flock of birds at the zoo. When they are spread back when you are excited to bang drums with dad or head over to the swings.
This month we spotted a few throwbacks to your scrunched up smiley face where you added to the cuteness with a nose kiss. There were plenty of tree huggies and general hugs to go around this month. You would pull back from a nice hug and say "Oh, that's perfect!" Then my heart melted.
Love, your puddle hearted Mom
