Two and a Half

Yesterday you turned two and a half Pookalooks!!!!! And I love love love love love you.

Here's who you are today, at least according to your mother.

Both of you:

• You are obsessed with bandaids. My bandaid budget is probably $100 a year right now (and my indulgent mother's is probably $300). Those Dora, Car and Thomas bandaids are freakin' expensive! You generally like to put them on your shirts when you get hurt. You've also been known to put them on "broken trees" to make them heal.



• In addition to bandaids, you make me spend a lot more than I ever dreamed on kids' sunglasses and goggles. Two things you love, two things I lose.



• You think it is funny to call Andrew "Andrew."



• You crack yourselves up. You use made up words that only the two of you know. "Dada" "Pee-da-ta" and "Bedo" are current favs.



• Sometimes while I'm making dinner you'll pretend something is a phone and "call" Amicis and "order a pizza." I can't even begin to tell you how demoralizing that is, though I still laugh out loud.



• You say a few words wrong. Inside out is still "unside out" and something is "Mise" and not "mine." The other day Andrew corrected you and I almost cried. I like those wrong words.



• You really can't count. At all.



• Your bedtime ritual gets longer every day, and it drives me crazy. Your latest is that you have to say the same litany to me right as I leave. You say it very fast, with no breaks, and it something along the lines of "Don't take off your diaper don't pee and poop in your pants i love you sleep tight"



• You still love "your friends"--Lion, Lion, Giraffe, Bunny, Cow. Cow is kind of a second class citizen, and you willingly give him to Mommy and Daddy to "share" at bedtime.



• Your new thing is to switch it up even at bedtime. Bunny is D's but C covets it so D usually lets her sleep with it. You've basically switched beds now too. But you could switch beds for 3 months and it would still be the other person's bed in your mind.

Dylan:

• You are 33.5" (5th percentile) tall and you weigh 25 lbs (10th).



• You are still a little wobbly at times but you appear to have gotten a lot stronger in the past few months. You fall a lot less. When you swing on monkey bars you can raise your knees really high for long periods of time. You are just starting to jump, though sometimes it is more of a trot.



• You sometimes use this very nasally voice.



• You are obsessed with Elmo Hiding diapers.



• You are still a little toughy, but it manifests itself in odd ways. A butterfly at the butterfly exhibit can scare the sh*t out of you but you have no problem swinging from anything and everything and climbing higher than I can reach up to help you. If I don't pay attention to you when you hurt yourself (even when it CLEARLY hurt based on the sound alone) you often just power through.



• Your favorite colors are red and blue.



• You are getting pretty good at identifying some letters. I mean you don't know the letters, but you know the words that start with them.



• You are incredibly particular about what you wear. If I let you, you would wear one of two things every day--your giraffe dress (from Maemae) or your blue shirt w/ the red airplane on it (from Aunt Roey).



• You are currently thinking about being either a giraffe or a scuba diver (anything to wear goggles) for Halloween. Advantage: giraffe.



• You are a little bit devilish. The other day I was trying to get you out of the house and you were lollygagging. I started one of my stupidly inane threats (MUST find real ones for situations like that) "If you don't start getting ready..." and you smiled and finished it for me with a very impish look... "I guess I can't go with you." It was like fast forwarding 10 (or maybe 4) years. I am very, very afraid.



• You think you are hilarious when I ask you what book you want and you say "Pottery Barn Kids" or "Discovery Museum Book" or something else that doesn't exist. Tee hee hee.



• You are a minimalist at bedtime. One blanket, one book (if that).



• You are generally VERY willing to share or switch with your sister. And believe me, she asks you to switch things with her A LOT.

Charlotte:

• You are 34.3 inches tall (10-25th percentile) and you weigh @28lbs (25th-50th!).



• You have just learned to jump in the last month. Can't hop yet but we're working on it.



• Sometimes you talk out of one side of your mouth, like a ventriloquist. Sometimes you talk in this big loud voice w/ your mouth shaped like an O, particularly to Andrew.



• You love to look for American flags and "Bear flags." You'll find one and then say "Good eye Charwotte!"



• You like to sing "Happy Birthday Hamerica" too. You always end the song with "yeahh!!!"



• You are currently thinking about being either a mermaid or Jeff Bagwell (retired Astro) for Halloween. Advantage: mermaid.



• You are starting to love puzzles! We have two Dora/Diego puzzles and you like to do them over and over.



• When I give you stickers you will put them on your arm, leg, chest or paper, one after the other in the same spot, layered on top of each other. I don't get it.



• You are a hoarder at bedtime. 5+ blankets, that I have to put on just the right way, and as many books as you can swindle.



• You love your sister and tell her so often.

And your mother is sorely lagging on the picture front this month. Pictures of our cupcake outing to celebrate the big 2.5 to come...