I dare you to just try to not love this kid! It ain't possible, folks. His vocabulary and personality are growing like crazy and every day he does something new to make us laugh. He's mostly so agreeable and it's super fun being around a two year old human who gets excited about essentially everything.
Lately he's really into Thomas the Train. He finds books about him at the library, asks to go to Barnes and Noble to play with their Thomas train set, and was super pumped to get his haircut so he could sit in the Thomas seat. If you ask him whether he got a hair cut, his responses is "the Thomas one!!!!"
Of course he still loves his buses too. Lucky for us, we get to walk big sis to and from school every day and he is just as enamored as ever by the line of school buses he gets to see. We treated him and his siblings with a trip on the 255 ALL the way downtown Seattle (about an hour long bus ride). He was as pleased as punch, especially that we got to get off in the bus tunnel THAT ALSO HAS A TRAIN RUNNING THROUGH IT. Imagine that!
In classic 3rd child fashion, I have absolutely no idea how many teeth the poor kids has. I did notice the other day that he cut 4 molars which might explain why his hands have been in his mouth so much.
Jack has some particular fashion preferences. He favorite is his Thomas t-shirt but he'll wear the Superman shirt if Thomas is dirty. And occasionally you can convince him to wear the shirt with the basketball on it if everything else is in the laundry. He likes wearing zip-ups but only if they are zipped ALL the way up to his neck and the striped PJs and the ones with the moose on them are his favorites. He takes his socks off every time he's in his crib and removes his shoes every time we are in the car.
Jack LOVES ride things. The kids got a Plasma car for Christmas and Jack always asks to "drive it?" In the rare moments when he and Emma aren't fighting over it, he can maneuver the thing pretty well. I spend most of my afternoons breaking up fights and setting a timer to keep track of whose turn it is. When Jack does get to be behind the wheel, he welcomes pushes from Emma and the two of them whip around our circular floor plan at breakneck speed.
He also really loves tricycles. Though he has a balance bike, he much prefers the safety and comfort of the trike. He isn't quite tall enough to reach the pedals just yet but manages along just fine somehow.
Some days when it's rainy and we're feeling desperate, I'll back the cars out of the garage and set them free to burn off some steam. You should see the looks I get from the neighbors walking by as they hear the shrieks coming from within!
This next picture kills me! He really is my lil' chef and helps me more in the kitchen than his big sisters combined. I put this apron on him during one cooking adventure and he just BEAMED with pride. No matter the time of day or what meal we're prepping, he always asks if we can make pancakes.
You fellow parents will know that there are some specific moments in raising kids that are just the absolute best. We'll call them "parenting highs" for lack of a better term. You never quite know when they are going to happen and they can never, ever be forced. But suddenly you'll be in the middle of something with your kids and find yourself so totally filled with joy or gushing with pride or some other positive emotion of the like. This has been my experience when taking Jack to the Seattle Gymnastics Academy. He absolutely loves it. Loves. It. Suddenly my mellow kid starts running and jumping and climbing and laughing like crazy and it makes me feel about as giddy on the inside as he looks on the outside. I would put this experience up in my top 5 favorite parenting moments so far. Unexpected joys. They are everywhere when you are a parent.
Especially when you are a parent to Jack. You never know when he will randomly climb atop a park bench and strike a yoga pose.
Don't be totally fooled by his cuteness though. He's definitely a 2 year old! He's learned to say a defiant "No!" and then laugh in our faces when we ask him to do something.
Jack is pretty solid Seahawks fan nowadays (don't tell him they got knocked out). Anytime he sees a football game on, or a basketball game or a soccer game - any sport really - he yells "GO SEAHAWKS!!!" It's awesome. We were really sad when they lost a couple weeks ago but that didn't stop him for showing off his pride with his blue sucker during the game.
Oh man. And these 2 kids - their bond is amazing! My friend Jenny sent me this picture while she was watching my younger two in the nursery last week. She shared how comforting Emma was to Jack, even going as far as to "read" him a book. I get sad thinking of the shock Jack is in for next year when Emma starts Kindergarten. Boy will he ever miss her! Usually one of the first things he asks for in the morning when he wakes or after a nap is Emma. It's darling!
He finally reached the age where he tells me "Love you!" when I say it to him first. And he says "I did it Mom!" when he does something he's proud of. Other common phrases include:
"I want ALL of it"
"Yes I do" or "Yes I did"
Oh! and he calls frozen yogurt "frozen mofurt"
(It took us forever to figure that one out!)
He's gotten really creative with the ways he announces to us that he is no longer sleeping (or that it's time we give up on the idea of him napping altogether). Some of his most common things he yells from bed include:
"Mommy where ARE you?"
"I'm upstairs!"
"Open the door!"
"Come downstairs!"
It cracks me up.
He really hasn't napped much this past week which is a huge bummer. On the days that he does fall asleep, he has to sing to himself or yell things for a good hour before he'll finally give up and lay down. The singing is pretty adorable. He carries a tune amazingly well but usually requests WE sing to him when we tuck him in. His favorites include: The Wheels on the Bus, the "Inside Out Song" (which is basically us or Emma chanting repeatedly "Who's your friend that likes to play? Bing Bong! Bing Bong!"), Jingle Bells, Away in a Manger, Happy Birthday, and the ABCs (but sung to the tune they use in the show Superwhy). He's also been asking for "The Seahawks Song" which usually results in mommy doing a sing-song crazy dance/cheer around his room and yelling "Go Seahawks!" It's super calming. But the best is when we just catch him singing all by himself. My absolute favorite is how he does "swish swish swish" in this video:
Remember how I said he loves trains? Please don't ever let me forget how this kid waves. I love his robotic jerky-handed vertical wave to pieces!
And last but certainly not least...if you're still with me here, this one is a MUST watch! We've been doing some scripture memorization/recitation at mealtimes with the girls and it never occurred to me just how much happens through osmosis. One day just for kicks, I decided to say the verses to Jack and drop out an occasional word here and there. To my surprise, he was able to recite most all the verses to me with minimal prompting! I knew kids were like sponges but wow!
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