2 Year Old Stuff

Last week, this little baby

turned into this big boy.

I am okay with it. Last year was different, that whole "my first baby's first birthday" thing, and also the transition from referring to him as a baby to referring to him as a toddler. I didn't like that one bit. But him turning 2 feels right because he has seemed like a 2 year old for a while now, I've just been waiting for the day to actually arrive.

I've decided that instead of listing out all of his 2 year old statistics, I'll just list out a few of the things that we want to remember about him at this age/stage. (Is there really a difference? Perhaps the difference is only in my head.)

-A month or so ago, there was a big fire in town, I think it was a house (not sure, really need to read the paper more.) Anyway, we were out for a wagon ride and suddenly there was a huge black cloud of smoke on one side of town and several firetrucks went zooming by. Jayce was still not really talking much at the time, but I showed him the smoke and he obviously heard the firetrucks. This event really sticks out in his mind for some reason, and it is the first real instance of him telling us a "story" over and over. Every once in a while, Jayce will walk over to the window, point outside in the direction of that house, and say "moke!" looking back at us for affirmation. Once we've agreed, "Yeah, there was smoke out there," then he'll move on. "Outside. Hot. Weee-ooo, weee-ooo (the firetruck). Fire." Somewhere in there, he'll pause and blow, like he's blowing out candles. The funny part is that the words are not put together in a sentence, they are each a statement about what happened. I know that in a few years (or in one year, not sure how that goes), this would become one of those rambling little kid sentences, "Hey Mom, remember that one time when there was a fire and lots of smoke and all the firetrucks went by and their sirens were on and..." It is kind of fun to get a sweet abbreviated little preview of what is to come.

-Last week the weather was beautiful and we spent as much time as possible playing outside. On one day Jayce tripped 3 times and scraped his knee a little more each time. When I was loading him into the car that afternoon he was telling me about his boo boo (saying boo boo and pointing to his knee), I nodded sympathetically and said, "Aww, do you want mom to kiss it?" and leaned forward to plant a little kiss on his knee. He then promptly leaned forward and kissed his knee himself. Yesterday he kept showing me a spot on his finger, saying "boo boo" and then kissing it, which apparently now go hand in hand.

-Jayce has a Noah's Ark puzzle, and since Noah is the prized piece, he often goes missing. Whenever we lose something in the house and are looking for it, we usually call for it. I think this originated with Jayce looking for Chris one time, but we do it with items that can't call back about where they're hiding, like bears, pacis, shoes, etc. Anyway, this week we were at the post office and Jayce was sitting up on the countertop while I filled out paperwork to ship a package. I was really aware of the line of people forming behind me and trying to rush through the form, so when Jayce turned to me and said "No-nah," I didn't pay much attention. I scooped him up and headed out the door, right past a man with white hair, a white beard and wire rimmed glasses. I'm just glad Jayce didn't point.

There was something else that I was thinking that I HAD to include, but it is eluding me at the moment. Stay tuned.

And happy belated birthday to my big boy.