Life at 2 Years

Here is what our sweet little Jake is up to at 2 years old:

• He is a great sleeper! He goes down every night around 7:15 pm after I read him a book and sing him his favorite song "Jesus loves me." I actually sing "Jesus loves Jake" and he thinks it is funny every time I replace the "me" for "Jake." Too cute. He sleeps until about 7:30 am.
• He is a not-so-great napper compared to some of his friends. He usually only naps for about 1.5-2 hours a day.
• He is still sleeping in a crib, but we are gonna do some rearranging soon to make room for little brother and attempt a big-boy bed!
• He is still a thumb-sucker when he is starting to get sleepy.
• He is a really good eater! He usually eats anything I put in front of him; however, vegetables are definitely getting to be a battle these days. French fries are by far his favorite food!
• He loves milk! He would drink it all day if I let him; other than milk, he usually drinks one juice box a day and lots of water.
• I don't think I've ever mentioned it before, but Jake is the non-messiest eater. He is so good with a spoon and fork, and I rarely have much to clean up behind him. I still put him in a bib, though, because I'm nuts like that.
• He loves to brush his teeth! Anytime I change his diaper, he automatically gets his toothbrush and toothpaste before laying down.
• He is saying so much these days! Once Tyson got to spend more time with him over Christmas break, Tyson looked at me and asked, "does he ever shut up?" Ha! It's not meant in a mean way, but the kid is constantly chattering! I wouldn't say he is speaking in complete sentences, but he is getting there!
• My favorite thing is says lately is "Ready...set...go!" except "ready" comes out sounding like "weady." I crack up every time! I love the way he mis-pronounces his R's!
• He is obsessed with trains and cars right now! He has one in his hands at all times.
• He loves to tackle pretty much anything in his path (including his friend Ryan).
• He is wearing 2T pants and 3T or 4T shirts.
• He has 16 teeth (I think). He hasn't gotten his 2 year molars yet.
• He is by no means potty trained, but he is suprisingly more interested in it and better at it than I thought. There have been several days he requests to wear big-boy pants and actually does a decent job of keeping them dry and using the potty. He's even asked to go potty a few times at school!
• He loves his Daddy but Jake is definitely a mama's boy.
• He is such a sweet boy and very well-mannered. He is very good with his please's and thank you's and is working hard on his sir's and maam's. He is very quick to recognize when he needs to apologize and will give the sweetest "sorry" without any prompting.He loves Barney! Mama and Daddy...not so much. Oh well, he has learned a lot from Barney (especially his sweet "big hug" that he loves to give out), so I guess it does serve some purpose...I guess.
• Speaking of his big hugs, Jake has been so affectionate lately. Just out of the blue, he will give you a "big hug." I love it! I hope he never grows out of it! Yeah right, huh?
• Right now, his temper tantrums are under control. We had a bad spell there for a while, but it only lasted a few weeks, thank goodness. I think it is a combination of football season being over and having Daddy home a little more, having my one-on-one attention again, and us just understanding how to handle things better. By the way, I just read a great book "Making the terrible two's terrific" by Rosemond that I would highly recommend for those with toddlers. It has definitely helped us deal with the "terrible two's!"
• He is really good with his colors. He can pick out pink, blue, green, and yellow almost every time; we're still working on the other colors. His favorite color changes pretty frequently, but pink was a strong contender for a while there despite Daddy's attempt to redirect him.
• He has no interest in counting at all whatsoever. He loves the number 2 and can tell you when there is 2 of something, but he refuses to count to any other number. I guess he's not gonna be my math kid! :(
• He is pretty good with recognizing letters of the alphabet; his favorite letter is "S" and gets so excited everytime we ride by a big sign with an "S" in it...especially CVS. :)
• He loves to "tickle, tickle" and to get a "tickle, tickle."
• He is developing a cute little sense of humor; for instance, on the way home from school we always pass this school bus parked at the school, and I always ask, "what color is the school bus?" Jake will answer "yellow!" and then jokingly change his answer to "green" just to cut up with me. We go back and forth the whole car ride "yellow...green...yellow...green!" It's the simple things like that that are so darn cute.
• He has the best hair! Tyson and I constantly ask "where does he get this fine, blond hair from?" Aunt Amy, of course! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but I just have the hardest time cutting it; it is so cute! "
• It's kind of hard to put a label to his personality, so here is my best shot: he can be very serious but yet cut-up at times, too; he can be the center of attention but he also doesn't mind just watching what everyone else is doing too; he can be so wild yet so mellow at times; he follows directions well yet will act like a little boy at other times; he can be so sweet but can get so rough. Get what I mean? For the most part, he is pretty easy-going and just adapts to whatever setting we're in.

I don't know what Tyson and I have done to deserve such an amazing little boy; we are just so lucky. Tyson says it all the time, "Jake is the most loved little boy (and spoiled, too)" and it's just so true.