Happy Holidays!

Que Pasa Calabasa? TWO YEARS OLD

Seriously hijo, just writing the words 'two years old' brings tears to my eyes. Where has the time gone? Such a cliche, but SO SO SO true. So without further adieu, here's the update:

STATS:

• you weigh 26 pounds now and are about 33.75" tall. 
• You've got 12 teeth (four front top and bottom, and two molars top and bottom). You've been to the dentist and she thinks you've got great chompers! We brush and floss every single day!
• You still nurse 1-2 times per day. You've 'missed' both morning and night time sessions, and we're gently encouraging you to stop/distracting you etc. 
• You're still rear-facing in the car, and likely will be up to 40 lbs. 

MOBILITY:

• Boy you are mobile! Very advanced physically. You seriously run, climb stairs up and down without help or a railing (non-reciprocal stepping). 
• The longest I've measured your running/walking is a bit over a kilometre, however one weekend we went hiking with Kiks and Uncle Waynie, and you walked the majority of the 5k, including up and down rocky slopes and tree roots!
• you can pedal your trike-bike!
• you have a balance bike that you are getting better and better at... still a bit too short to really get going on it but soon enough...
• You can easily climb ladders and kiddie climbing walls, and even bigger climbing walls don't phase you much!
• You are great at throwing and kicking balls, even while running! You also have a mean slapshot :)

COMMUNICATION:

• your vocabulary has EXPLODED. It is truly astounding. And truly, you have two vocabularies - English and Spanish, as you are equally good at both! You speak to Daddy in Spanish and English to me. Sometimes you are even kind enough to 'translate' for me! 
• You know the name of almost every animal, several dinosaurs, all the colours, parts of body, and more.
• You are speaking in short sentences now. The longest I've noticed is 5 words. Your first 2 word sentence was late July early August. You started with 'down please' and 'big truck!'. You're supposed to be able to do 3 word sentences by 3, so I'd say you're doing great!
• You have great manners - you say please, thank you, and excuse me in English and Spanish, but sometimes you need reminding!
• you went through several stages of 'yes' - it started off with you saying 'siiiiii!' in a singsongy voice every time you agreed to something. Then it changed to 'Ya' for a short period of time (thank goodness), and it's currently a very crisp and business-like 'yesss'. It's too cute!
• Your first unprompted 'I love you' was on the morning of August 11th. I cried!
• Your grammar is pretty amazing. You use singular, plural, and past tense correctly most of the time. You have a good grasp of adjectives! Just the other day as I was putting you in your carseat, you grabbed my scarf and said 'Nice! Soft! Warm!'. Then when I asked you if you were hungry you said 'Yes! Mommy, tummy gurgling!'. I seriously don't even know where you learn all these words!

LEARNING:

• you are getting quite good at recognizing all of the colours. 
• You can count to ten in English and Spanish, and you can count up to three items. 
• Sometimes I swear you can actually read!
• July 28th was your first poop in the toilet. September 1st was your first pee in the toilet. We're not working too hard on toilet training as of yet. When we bought the seat adaptor you were really excited to sit on it and 'wipe' yourself, flush the toilet, etc. We had a talk about telling us when you have to use the bathroom. I'd say you tell us about 75% of the time now (even higher for #2), but most of the time it's too late. We still go through the process of sitting you on the toilet just so you get into the routine. As with everything else in your history, I'm sure you just going to one day decide to not use diapers and that will be it. 
• Time out works really well for you. You stay put for the entire time (~1-2 minutes) and then afterwords you hug us, say sorry, and behaviour is back to normal happy self. Sometimes I think you just need a 'chill-out minute'.
• You pretty much want to do anything and everything Mommy and Papi do. Every weekend you help to make the pancake batter, you always want to play in the dish water, you want to sweep, vacuum. 
• You love colouring, drawing, singing, dancing, and reading.
• You love to put garbage in the trash can. You are getting pretty good at cleaning up your toys too.  

EATING:

• there is something to be said for our 'baby led solids' process. You are an amazing eater!
• You LOVE broccoli! You see it in the store and make a run for it squealing 'broccoliiiiiii'. People give you weird looks. Who squeals for broccoli??
• You can feed yourself, and you're very neat about it. You hardly spill, and if you get any on your hands you ask for a napkin to clean yourself up!
• We don't make you anything special, you eat whatever we eat. We eat a homecooked, sit-down dinner every single night. 
• You definitely inherited Mommy's sweet-tooth! You don't eat any junk food, but I have to watch your intake of baby cookies!
• You still love oranges. 

CUTE OVERLOAD:

• You have a wonderful imagination. You pretend the chain that holds the tub drain are grapes and 'eat' them. You pretend you're a dog, crawl around with your tongue hanging out and panting, and then come and ask us for a treat! You tell us crumpled up napkins are 'turtles', 'birds', 'chocolate cake', etc. You like to 'phone' us on your play telephones. 
• We have a little game where we'll say "who likes _____?" and then you put up your hand and say "Me!". Grandpa and Omi like this game too. 
• Sometimes if you don't like something Mommy or Papi do, you say "Mommy, trouble! Time out!" and then you take our hand and bring us to the corner!
• You have a little game with Mommy where you seriously give about a hundred kisses over and over and over. You've even done it in the grocery store a few times!
• Last night you and I were cuddling/playing in mine and Papi's bed before your bedtime and suddenly you grabbed me for one of your big bear hugs and squealed "best frienddddd!". My heart grew about three sizes. I may have cried. 
• You love to pretend to be sleeping, and even make the snoring noise!
• You love to hide under blankets. 
• You love money, and love to put it in your piggy bank or your pockets!
• When you get something you want, you do a happy dance and squeal 'happy! happy! happy!'
• One of your favourite games is running in circles around our recliner. Sometimes you hop and squeal 'hopping! hopping!'
• whenever you get a boo-boo, you ask for a bandaid, but you never let us put one on! When you got your last vaccination, you only cried when the nurse put a bandaid on your arm and not for the pokey part! You also bring us your booboos to kiss them better. You also kiss our booboos too!
• Every night I ask you what you're going to dream about and you always answer 'trains'. Every morning I ask you if you dreamed, you say 'yes' then I ask you what you dreamed about and you say 'trains!'
• If we slip, trip, or fall you tell us 'careful!'. 
• It is soooooo cute seeing you play with other kids... Samuel, Sashika's daughters Sanha and Sapna, all of your friends at Diana's house. 
• You think farting is the funniest thing ever. You promptly let us know whenever it happens by announcing 'Fart! Scuse me!' and patting your bum. 

TERRIBLE TWOS:

• sometimes you hit/slap. I don't know where you picked this up, as we don't spank or slap or use any type of corporal punishment. I'm guessing during play amongst the kids at Diana's house. Whenever you do it I say "Max, you hurt me" and you immediately kiss whatever spot you hit and then say "sorry mommy". We reinforce by saying "no hitting" and you repeat it. I'm not too too worried about it as yet. 
• when playing with other kids, you sometimes claim things: "Mine!" or "My __________".
• When you don't want to do something, you say "No like it!"
• You are a bit too in love with TV and iPhones for my liking. 
• Boy can you throw a tantrum when you don't get what you want. So far we've had two fairly embarassing public meltdowns. 

Well, dear boy, I certainly don't want to leave it on a 'negative' note! You are my joy, my rainbow, my sunshine on a cloudy day. I can't wait to get home to see you every day and see you run up to me squealing 'Mommy mommy!'. I love to hear you chatter about what you see and what you did. I can't wait to see you open your gifts. Daddy and I spent a couple of weeks making them. I just know you're going to love them!

Love, love, love you my boy. Happy Birthday. 

Mama

Summer 2012

First trip to Wasaga beach. Max absolutely loved the water and the sand!

Cuddling with Oma.

Another Wasaga trip.

Learning how to balance with Oma.

Subway ride to 'Salsa on St. Clair'

Dancing with Mama.

"Choo-choo!"

Playing in the courtyard with his buddy Samuel.

Carousel at Woodbine Fantasy Fair.

I actually said: "Excuse me Mr. Fireman, can you be in the photo with my son?"

Riding the train at High Park.

Whiny face at the splash pad. 

"Mmmm corn on the cob!"

Colouring all over Mama's school notes on the car ride home from Wasaga.

First ice cream cone!

This adventure at Wasaga was all about sand. Wasn't interested so much in the water!

Glass floor of CN Tower with Zoe, Brooks, Erin and Tim.

Unearthing dinosaur bones at the ROM. (Chemistry goggles - *heart melts*)

First time on the potty! 

Swingin' at High Park. He loooooves swings now! Can't push him high enough ;)

Petting zoo fundraiser at High Park Zoo. Feeding llamas.

Peering at a baby Wallaby.

Chasing (literally) after chickens. Guess he didn't inherit my heart stopping fear of birds. 

Oh you know, just shovelling some hay.

Trip to the Soo. Playing with Oma.

I LOVE this photo of Max and 'Gapa'. Strolling at Bellevue Park. 

Grandpa and Max with some ducks and geese. 

Awww.

Three musketeers. 

Playing at Bellvue Park. 

Not so sure about this Grandpa!

Obsessed with walking dogs. 

Tomfoolery with Oma.

Walking at the waterfront. 

I wish I could say this was a cute dinosaur roar but I can't. This was a full-fledged no-denying 'get me down off of this rock right noooooow' kind of roar.

Riding Grandpa's motorcycle.

Max learned how to climb the rock wall at 21 months!

Splash pad fun!

Love this 'lil face. 

Love this 'lil bum. 

Macuil shadows. 

More climbing. 

First dentist appointment. No cavities. No crying. Mama did a good job brushing your teeth!

I must say this outfit is too freaking adorable!

Well there's only one week of 'summer' left before labour day. You grow and change every single day, it's crazy. I stopped counting how many words you know after 200. You're so smart and funny and beautiful! You had your 18-month checkup a few days ago and you're 24 lbs and 83 cm. About the 40th percentile for both, so you're just a 'lil guy. You make my day, every day! Love you to the moon and back!