Jack: 2.5 year update

Jack,
You are two and a half! You are a funny, sweet, loving, little boy! Your speech has taken off and the things you say are hilarious. You talk about our trip to Boston a lot. I love that you have some memories of that trip! Twice, you have randomly said "You're the best!" to me. It is truly the best compliment. The other day you told me I was sweet.

You know you will have a baby brother soon, but you have no idea what that really means. I love to make you say all the names on the short list to help us determine which name to pick. You make them all sound so cute that it isn't very helpful! You came with me to a doctor's appointment in early December, because you had run a fever the day before and couldn't go to daycare. You were so well behaved and sat still in a chair while the doctor was in the room. We were able to go to your Daddy's hospital the week of Christmas and have an OB resident determine the gender. As we were walking in you talked about how you were going to sit in your chair. The things that stick with you are so surprising to me.

For a while when we would place you in your crib at night you would unprompted (because neither one of us talk to you at this point for fear of getting you riled up!) say "love you too" and blow a kiss. You sleep with your bunny each night and we take it to daycare for your naps. We got rid of the pacifier in September right after our trip to Boston. It went a whole lot better than I thought it would. We cut the tips off of all them and they eventually all made it into the trashcan...except for one. The wubanub puppy dog has stuck around and you have recently become attached to it and like to carry it around and call it Paci. The other night we went to eat dinner with your daddy at the hospital and you told me that Paci was sick and he needed to go in with you. You were very adamant about having doctor Daddy take a look at him.

We have a few movies saved on the DVR and you were on a Tangled kick for quite a while. You would pat your hair and say "I've got long hair" or your would touch mine and say "Like Tangled." I think it's a cute movie, so I didn't mind watching it over and over again. I took you to your first movie at the theater while your daddy was out of town at a conference. We saw The Penguins of Madagascar and you did okay. I won't be taking you back for a while though! We went to the theater with the big recliners. You didn't want to stay in your seat and at one point somehow managed to get your legs stuck in the chair. I thought I was going to have to leave you in the theater and go get help just before I finally got you free. You talked about the movie for weeks afterward, so I guess you enjoyed it!

You love to sing! Your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABCs. You have learned the words to all of the lullabies we sing you and now it is a sing-a-long at night before you go to bed. You can count to ten, love to color, and use scissors.

You love your Batman shirt, any sort of boots, playgrounds, "adventures", and bandaids (ban-ban). You love to play with cars, go on bear hunts and sword fight. You like to say that you've seen a dinosaur or a monster and we run and hide. You also see these things when you are in the car and we pretend to draw our swords and get them. You love Nuts and especially like to give him hugs.You love to go to Target and we let you go down the toy aisle and play. We don't buy anything, but you have so much fun looking. Your newest thing is going to dance class in your room, an idea you got off of Despicable Me and having super powers. Not necessarily connected, although sometimes you do need super powers to dance. :)

You like school and your teacher Miss Aya. Although, there are a lot of mornings that I go to get you up and you tell me you aren't going to school today. I know you have fun there though and it is fun to see you interact and learn. Your favorite part about school is the extra activity we pay for-- the Fun Bus! It comes every Thursday and is a school bus that has been painted green and converted to a mobile gym. You talk about it frequently and are so excited every Thursday when I pick you up to show me the stamps you get on each hand for visiting the Fun Bus.

You are very in tune with others feelings. Anytime I sigh or mumble something under my breath, you always ask, "What happened, Mommy?" I have to be pretty careful about expressing my emotions while driving. Haha. You are very concerned if people are sick. Your daddy has become the "church doctor" and helps a lot of people when they get ill during church (which is suprisingly a lot of people). One day we waited after church was over for an ambulance to come pick someone up and you talked about the lady not feeling well the rest of the day.

The biggest thing that has come with you being 2.5 is you are potty trained! We had been introducing the idea to you here and there, but really worked with you the week after Christmas. You had a sticker chart and got to pick out which stickers you wanted at the store (Bubble Guppies). You had also gotten to pick out underwears (you call them underwears, plural) and chose super heroes. You weren't quite as motivated about the stickers as I thought you would be, but you were excited when the whole chart was full and you got to pick out a toy. You chose a set of hot wheels cars and have played with them a lot. You wear a diaper at nap time and at night. We'll conquer that when you are ready.

You are a pretty good eater, but prefer snacks to actual meals. You like pizza and french fries, but will eat healthy things too! You love to help make smoothies and request them quite frequently. You snack a lot on squeeze pouch applesauce and cheese sticks. It is so cute to hear you say the prayer before dinner. 

You are a happy, go with the flow, sweet boy! Each new stage with you is my favorite.

We love you so much!
Love,
Mommy

A couple of recent videos that we just love:

"I'm going to jump!"; "Amazing, Amazing!"; "C'mon super powers."


We did a countdown to the new year several hours before midnight and you absolutely loved the video! We did it over and over for about a week. 
"Happy New Year!"


Now get ready for a picture overload from the last six months.