Paul turns 2!

My baby boy, is two years old! How can that even be possible? I get confused sometimes when I think back to a year ago because I want to think he was just born last year. But no, he's two. He is a pretty typical two-year-old little boy. He loves balls and dinosaurs and trucks and trains. He loves to dig in the dirt and throw rocks in the river.  He talks in three-to-four word sentences and can sing several songs. In some ways though, he still is my baby boy. When I go get him from his crib in the morning, he lays his head on my shoulder with his little body melting perfectly into mine, and he will just snuggle there for several minutes without moving. I could keep him there forever. And even though he usually goes to bed on his own now, sometimes he still wants me to rock him to sleep, and I don't protest. He can stay my snuggly little boy for as long as he likes. 💗

For his birthday, we had our traditional birthday pancakes for breakfast with balloons on Paul's chair. Then we walked down to the bridge to throw rocks in the river and went to Costco (his favorite place) for lunch. In the evening, we had a train-themed party with a cupcake train. His presents from us were a set of plastic dinosaurs, books, some cars, and a bridge for his train set.

Everything Paul does, he does to the fullest. His hugs are the tightest. His laughs are the loudest. And his tantrums are the biggest. He can be happier than happy one moment and madder than mad the next when something doesn't go his way. We've definitely noticed an increase in the frequency and intensity of his melt-downs in the last couple months. He is a stubborn little guy and when he really wants something or DOESN'T want something, almost nothing can distract him or change his mind. He pretty much just has to kick and scream and cry until he gets over whatever didn't go his way. We are just picking our battles these days, trying to decide what is worth a melt-down and what isn't. It's frustrating, but we went through a similar stage with Anna so we know it won't last forever!

Paul's current obsession is with the diggers working on the construction sight a block away from our house. We've had to walk down to "go see diggers" at least ten times in the last two weeks. I think he could sit and watch them for hours if we let him.

Paul continues to be an animal-lover. Poor Milo gets smothered with hugs and kisses and cuddles every day. (And poor Paul gets more scratches than the rest of us combined.) Thankfully, Milo doesn't seem to hate Paul yet, and hopefully Paul will learn to be gentler before too long. Paul gets excited anytime he sees any sort of animal...a bird, a snail, an ant, it doesn't matter, Paul loves it. The best day of Paul's life might be when he went to farm country at Thanksgiving Point with Kyle and Amanda for his birthday and got to feed ducks and pet goats and ride on a real pony. I can't wait to take him to the zoo this summer.

Paul is also in love with dinosaurs. When I ask the kids in the morning to tell me about their dreams, Paul's ALWAYS involves dinosaurs. He got some toy dinosaurs for his birthday and was super excited. He loves playing with them and also pretending to be a dinosaur himself. We've gone to two different dinosaur museums in the last couple months, and he was in heaven!

Paul is quite the talker these days. I've long since lost track of how many words he knows. He can say 4-5 word sentences now, and his pronunciation is getting much clearer. Some of my favorite things he says are "Come on, come with me!" "I just kidding." "That's so crazy!" "Hi mom, what doing?" He can count to ten. He can sing his ABCs and knows the words to several other songs including "Twinkle Twinkle" "Row, Row Your Boat" "Daisy, Daisy" "Five Little Ducks" "Wheels on the Bus" "Popcorn Popping" "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Clean Up, Clean Up." That one might be my favorite haha. He sings it every time we're picking up toys, "Queen up, queen up errybody errywhere!"

Paul loves to read books and that's usually the first thing he wants to do when he wakes up in the morning or from his nap. His favorite books these days are probably "Little Black, A Pony," any dinosaur book we check out from the library, and the National Geographic animal book Trev and Megs got him for his birthday.

Paul loves the water. We took the kids swimming at the rec center in March and Paul was jumping off the side, going completely under the water, and then popping back up spluttering but smiling and then doing it all over again. I kept asking him if he wanted me to catch him and he would always say, "No, no, by myself!" It was pretty impressive. I signed him up for the parent and me swimming lessons at the same time as Anna's swimming lesson this summer, so that should be fun!

Like a typical little boy, Paul loves rough play. Some of his favorite games are tickle fights, horse-back rides, and playing monster/superhero. He loves to jump off of stairs and furniture and he loves to tackle anyone who is sitting or lying on the ground. Although roughhousing is his favorite, he does enjoy quiet activities too. He loves reading books, doing puzzles, and playing the game Zingo. He loves the wooden train set and can play with that happily for hours.

Paul loves to be outside. He loves to help in the garden...he and Anna got gardening tools for Easter and love to help me water and weed. He loves to ride his trike and go for walks on the river trail. He especially loves when we stop to throw rocks in the river. I was noticing when we went for a walk the other day that he can full-on run now. He used to do this cute little run where his feet would swing out in little circles. I'm a little sad because I loved that run. But he can run now with his feet coming off the ground and his arms pumping and he is FAST. He loves to run away from us when we want him to give us something and he laughs his head off when we start to chase him. Pretty soon we're going to have a hard time catching him.

Paul is still our good eater. I had to laugh awhile back when I made meatloaf for the first time because our kids' reactions were so opposite. Paul jumped up and down on his chair and yelled, "Yum, yummy!" Anna took one look and said, "What IS that?" :) Paul's really good about trying new foods and likes almost everything except most green vegetables. But other than avoiding broccoli and asparagus, he is a really good eater. But he is so messy! The chair and floor around his place at the table is always covered in crumbs and spills after mealtimes. I took a picture of the table the other day after we had cleared the plates and we were laughing because we could see the outline of where his plate had been in all the crumbs.

Paul still loves his binkie. We've gotten it down to where he only has it at night and for naps, but I'm dreading taking it away completely because I don't think he'll be able to sleep without it. I don't want to even try to wean him from it until he's done taking naps. The sleep is worth the crooked teeth in my opinion! He's pretty good about going to sleep on his own now, but he always has to have his blanket and binkie.

No potty-training yet. He was showing a little interest just before he turned two, so let him sit on the potty with little seat a couple times. He didn't do anything except sit, but it's been months since he's wanted to even sit on it. Now anytime we ask if he wants to sit on the potty he says no and starts crying if we press it. So I think it will be awhile before he's ready for that. **Update 5/21/17: He peed and pooped in the toilet for the first time today! We bribed him with candy to sit on the potty. But he did it!!!

He really is growing up fast. It seems like he went from a toddler who could only say a few words to a little boy who can say almost everything. He can be a handful, but he is so sweet and loving that it more than makes up for it. He gives big hugs and kisses and frequently tells me unprompted, "I love you Mommy. SO MUCH!" It melts my heart. We sure love our Paul-o!