Steven at 2.5 Years

The past 6 months since my baby turned 2 have really flown by. It almost seems ridiculous to call you a "baby" anymore since you are such a big boy now!

You are so independent and capable. You can do so many things by yourself, most things actually. You can get dressed and undressed by yourself now.  (Sometimes you prefer for us to do it for you but you can definitely do it by yourself.) You will go pick out clothes or shoes from your drawers. You can go potty all by yourself and its been weeks/months since we've had an accident. Sometimes you'll even go in the bathroom all by yourself and take care of business before we even know you were in there! You can get food out of the fridge all by yourself too. You love to show your independence. Sometimes you'll go get your stool from your room and use it to climb up on our kitchen counters and get at the food you want. Its pretty awesome watching you develop all those new skills.

Stinker

It's been so much fun watching your personality develop over the past year too. Sometimes you are a very sweet, cuddly guy. You will run to the door when I leave for work in the morning and say "I need a kiss!!" Then you want me to give daddy a kiss and you always say, "Have a good day!". So cute! In the evenings when we watch a movie or read books before bed you want to snuggle with me and sometimes you'll request to "cuddle". I love it! You can be really sweet in your language too saying things that melt my heart like an unsolicited "I love you mommy." or "Do you love me?" or "Do you want to play with me?" You still are very concerned about kids around you if they are crying or upset, which is really sweet.

You also have another side to your personality...you can get very mad and upset if you don't get your way or can't do something you want to do. You still will try to hit or kick us and we have to remind you that it's not ok to do that. (We are working on this!). You'll cry and stomp around and say, "You are NOT my best friend!" It's hard not to laugh at that but you are getting our your frustrations so that's ok. You also picked up some choice lines from Disney movies you like to throw out when you're upset such as "I'll never be like you!" (Brave) and "Stupid idiot!" (Toy Story). Oh what are we going to do with you!

Crazy boy!

                           

You have really taken to pretend play lately. You love to make us "dinner" with your play kitchen or have a "picnic" with your play dishes. You like to put on mommy's necklaces or rings and pretend to "go to work". It's very cute. Lately you've been driving your Buzz Lightyear little motorbike around pretending to go to work and come home. You'll also make beds for us or yourself and go through our nighttime routine putting us to sleep (kisses, songs, tucking in, etc.). Adorable.

You love to be naked. Only underwear is a good compromise.

                                               

You also still love to run around the house like a maniac and pretend to chase dinosaurs, the big bad wolf, lions or whatever else. You turn most everything into a gun/knife or some other weapon and we've really had to work with you on not hitting us or the dogs with your pretend weapons. You sure are rambunctious! You also love to "play sticks" outside which involves finding sticks and hitting the tree or whatever else with them. That's one of your favorite games lately. You also like to play a game you made up where you say, "Mommy you say yes, I say no." Then we scream that at each other and then switch on your command. LOL

Rawr!

You are a little chatterbox too. You will ask us all sorts of questions about the world around you. When we are in the car you'll shout out "airplane!" or "truck!". You'll ask what the people walking on the street are doing or where the airplane is going. You will talk to yourself sometimes and sing randomly to yourself too. You're favorite songs right now are Where is Thumpkin, Old MacDonald, Open Shut Them, and Wheels on the Bus is still a favorite. You really like some of the songs on the Raffi CDs we have, which is cute to hear you singing them.

It's really pretty incredible to listen to you too. You will repeat things we've told you days earlier or put together ideas that we would have never thought you were paying attention to. You will sometimes repeat the conversations your dad and I have which is pretty hilarious.

                                                   

You have gone through quite a few transitions since turning 2. Like I mentioned earlier you've really mastered potty training and that's been great! We also set up a big boy room for you and moved you in there. We needed the nursery for your brother and thought you could use the extra space to play. You also got a big boy bed in there. The transition was a little rough on you and you had some times where you asked to sleep in your old room or in the crib. We had some trouble getting you to stay in your bed at night but lately you've been doing great! We also had to transition you to a new daycare recently due to Stephanie going back to work and closing her in home daycare. It was really a shame because you did so well at Stephanie's and loved it there. But what can we do? You started at First Academy a few months ago and and first it was rocky but now you're doing great!

Big boy room!

Since we are expecting your little brother any day now, we've been doing a lot of talking about becoming a big brother and the baby coming in the past few months. That has been really cute and you've totally taken to the idea of having a little brother. You know where the baby is and what his name is. (Side note, you will say your full name now, Steven Joseph Riegerix, and it is SUPER cute). You sometimes will give mommy's belly kisses or hugs for the baby when we ask you to. For a while you said there was a baby in your belly! ha ha! It's pretty adorable.

 

You are going to be such a great big bro!

We are pretty sure you're going to be all over the baby when he comes. You get really excited about babies we see and a few close friends have had babies that you've gotten to see pretty often. You mostly want to caress their face and give (unsolicited) kisses. You usually want to pick the baby up and hold him or her which is really sweet. I have talked to you a lot about being mommy's helper when the baby comes and you seem pretty excited to do that. I hope it all goes well.

Holding Cousin Micah for the first time.

I've spent a good amount of time worrying about you and the transition from being an only child to having a sibling. On one hand I have been sad for you, that you will lose the 24/7 attention we are able to give you right now. I've been trying to savor all the moments we have together as a family of 3. We were able to take you to the beach in May with my parents which I'm SO glad we did. I hope its a memory you will have for a while. You sometimes talk about the beach now so I know you at least somewhat remember it. We've also been trying to do a lot of things with you this summer, trying to get in those last experiences before your brother comes and we've had so much fun!

Cousin shenanigans!

                                      

But the more and more I think about it, I realize that giving you a sibling is really the best thing we could do for you! You will get to grow up with him and teach him and learn from him and hopefully become lifelong friends with him. So now I'm excited for you! I think you will make an awesome big brother. And I can't wait to see how everything turns out. We love you so much, Steven.