mom says:
we just had 2.5 hours of Alex demanding we "Tay! Tay!" while he failed to sleep because he was all hypervigilant about us making any move toward the door. Also, yesterday he emptied a full container of parmesan cheese on the table and played in it like it was snow.

I try to knock down the stars with a lightsaber and nobody can talk me out I it for half an hour. "get it! Down! Reeeeach!"

I enjoy nakedness. I start yelling "butt!" and patting myself on the behind or the belly.

I refuse to wear the costume mom spent a month making for me but then brag "garbage truck!" to anyone who asks what I was. I enjoy candy and keep hoping mom might give me more at 7am.

I like to "run! Race! Fast!"
All the time.
I am a major Snuggler and can cover you with kisses until you have to stop me.
I do a great toddler
Bounce dance that looks a bit
Like disco.

"Pease! Out-ream! Cancake!"

I poke at my own chesk and say "Ah-Yex!"  If you ask me how old I am, I say "Two!"  and I hold up two fingers.  Or four fingers.  Or five fingers.

I very much do not like being helped with seat belts or tooth brushing or much of anything.  To tell you I don't want any help, I yell "Help!  Help!"  I am irritated when people do not appear to comply with this instruction to not-help.

I like the fancy potty that Oma bought me, that has Lightning McQueen on it and revs like an engine when you "flush" it.  I like it so much, I bring it out to show people when they come over.  But I will not sit on it.  Ever.

I yell "Mooooooooooooooo-mmy!" over and over again when I'm bored.  It doesn't really matter what she's doing or what I'm doing, I just like hearing her respond.  Then I say "Oooooo-kay."

The answer to every question is "Yah!"  or "No!" or "Out-ream."  (Ice cream).

Sometimes I demand in the morning, or in the middle of the day, "Out-ream!"n  Mommy says "What??" and I laugh and start yelling "Out-ream!  Out-ream!"

I also love "Can-cake!" i.e. pancakes.

I do say please, either "Eeez!" or "Pease!"
And Thank you, even unprompted, "Ankoo!"

I love, love babies.  My baby dolls, and the babies at Daycare.  When mommy asks what I did at Marisa's i say "Babies!"  Who did I play with?  "Babies!"  What were their names?  "Babies!"  What did I eat for lunch?  "Babies!!"

Favorite books:  The train book with the lift-the-flaps little people and the page of hiding monkeys.  I make incredibly realistic monkey shrieking sounds. 
I also like The King, The Mice, and Cheese.  Ivan likes that one too.
And I love Mickey Mouse.  I call him Kickey Mouse.  And the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is Kickey Mouse!  House!  We have a Baby Mickey book that I love.

Ki-key Mouse! House!

I am one tough little dude.
I wrestle with Ivan pretty much full-tilt now.  I attack, standing up and then landing belly-first on my target, using my relatively dense little package of mass to great effect.  I'm both heavier and stronger than I look.
I can tackle Ivan onto the beanbag from standing, and at least once I've completely pinned him just by lying on top of him.  And laughing.  Until he cried, and then Mom made me say sorry.  I don't actually say sorry, I just give someone a pat and usually a goopy kiss, and sometimes I say "O-ree."

Favorite phrases
"Baby!  Lay down."
"Eat!  Noodles!  Eeeeeez! (Please)"
"Ki-key.  Ki-key mouse!  House!"  (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

Our family picture day was kind of stressful.  Mommy wanted me to be all clean and dressed in this one particular shirt, and then I was supposed to hold still and smile and say cheese.  I climbed out of her arms, I yelled for ice cream, I was snotty and drooly, I bucked my head around and generally made it impossible to get good pictures.  Then they told me Mickey Mouse was in the equipment, and they made Mickey Mouse sounds so I believed them and smiled.  But then they started packing up the equipment, and I got mad.  In an upset and accusing tone, I pointed at the bags and said "Ki-key!  Ki-key mouse!!!"  Mom finally explained they were just making the noises, like I make monkey noises.   That made it OK.

Surgery, or "Ow! Yucky!"

I had my tonsils and adenoids out.  At least, that's what Mommy says happened.  What she told me was going to happen is "We're going to the hospital, that's a place where we can watch 'Cars'!"

So I was excited, and even when they were putting me in my robe and I was wearing nothing else but a diaper, I was toddling into the hall to look for the room where we watch "Cars."

Then they gave me drugs, and I got all sleepy and confused, and they wheeled me away from Mommy on a red wagon.  That was hard.  Mommy cried, but I didn't see her cry.

I woke up a little too early, and was hurting so so much, and was so confused, and Mommy wasn't there yet because I woke up early.  It was pretty horrible, I was saying ow and crying and screaming and arching my back all over the place, the nurses were trying to give me pain medication but I was moving too much and they dropped the syringe, and I hated my IV.  But luckily...Mom had the laptop.  She turned on Cars, and everything was better,  I just watched Cars and sucked on popsicles (although I threw the first two at nurses).  Later, in the evening, Mommy took me home, and even though I was still drooling and snotting and crying and whimpering, as we crossed the street I leaned up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

I couldn't eat for four days, except graham crackers and juice, and I couldn't talk for more than a week...just little whispers.  Ivan got super worried about me, because I just cried all the time and wanted to lie on the couch and watch Cars and didn't even walk anywhere.  And the medicine I had to take every 4 hours tasted awful, I whimpered "Oww...yucky..." and they even woke me in the middle of the night to make me swallow the stuff.  Cruel and unusual.  But I don't have to take it anymore.

Everyone's so happy that I'm doing better, and now I can sleep on my tummy and I don't even snore.

I learned how to catch a ball!  Daddy has been practicing with me, and I think I made him really proud.  I still kind of use my face as a backboard sometimes, but I can catch a ball in my arms almost all the time.

I am TWO!

I am two years old.
I have a few more words.
"Heowp" - help.
"Ruck!" - truck.
"Reeeeen" - train.
and most excitingly, "Yeah!" -- I'm a much more positive person now that I have that one to use.

I don't like pedaling things very much yet, no interest in my new tricycle. I want to go FAST. I love running, and jumping, especially off of stairs.

I love tackling mom and dad, and giving kisses, or even licks. I think that's hilarious.

I do not like vegetables AT ALL, unless they are blended with fruit and frozen, in which case I will eat them all day and night.

I like trains very much, especially when mommy or Uncle Chris or daddy helps me build a track. I get very, very mad when Ivan takes the track apart, or when Duncan takes my train.

Duncan is my buddy. I say "Duggie" or "buddy."

I love uncle Chris. I say "Riss!" and give him big hugs. He is my favorite person aside from my parents. Oma and Grandpa are very special too.

Ta-DAAAA!

I like to enter a room with a jump and yell "DAAAA!" As in, "ta-DAAAA!"

I love it when my big brother clowns around for me. He pretends to sneeze, or fall down; I give him a little push and he pretends to fly across the room and fall down. I laugh until I can't even breathe, my face turns red and tears roll down my face, and I drool all over my chin. And then I run around to make him laugh, too. We might start a circus.

I'm pretty good with little things, like stringing wooden beads onto a long string. I have some car and truck-shaped big wooden beads that I love to pull behind me like I'm walking a puppy. I have dragged them all the way downtown and back, so they're all scuffed now, but I don't care. They're great.

I don't really like going to sleep right now. I want to be with Mommy. Sometimes it helps when my baby doll comes into bed with me.

I still don't talk that much, but I have a word for "umbrella" ( I really like those, I want to take my green monkey umbrella with me everywhere, and I get in trouble for opening it in the car). I say "Mo" or "ohh" for "no" -- a lot.
I sometimes call Mommy "Gaby" but it sounds like "Bobby."
I love to play with the little-kid laptop. It's so fun! And Mommy's phone, too, with apps like Fish School and ABC Train. Mom calls me a digital boy. I like watching screens!

From Toddler to Little Kid

I'm moving solidly from "toddler" to "little kid."

I don't toddle and fall much anymore.
My amazingly round toddler belly has, just in the last few weeks, stretched into a little-boy torso much more like my big brother's.
I am acting like I am two...nothing provokes a tantrum faster than asking me what I want when I'm in a bad mood. I don't KNOW what I want! Stop ASKING me!!! The worst is when then more and more people come over to try asking me if I want this, or that, or offering me things -- I just want them all to LEAVE ME ALONE. I shake my head so hard that my whole body rocks, then I plunk onto my diapered butt, and then hurl myself forward onto my stomach so i can bang my head on the floor, or hide my face in my hands.

I really like doing things myself.

I don't like it when people try to dress me, or diaper me.

I love, love, love to jam my hand down my pants. What's the problem with that? It's comfy.
But then people get a little upset when it's dirty in there and my hands get all yucky. Still, I hate it when they dress me in the overalls and snap-onesies, restricts my access.

I have started copying Ivan's "Momm-aayyyy!" and "Dadd-aayyy!" intonation. But I also sometimes still half-squeak "Mommy!!!" and "Daddy!!" in excitement, clapping my hands and dancing and jumping with excitement to see them.

Oma is still "Mmmah!" but I also have been practicing a very exaggerated "OoooooOOoooh!"
Grampa is "MmmPAH!" I get very excited to go see him, too!

I love trying to walk in Daddy's shoes. I am pretty good at it.

We have a new trampoline. I love to jump on it. I really, really like to jump on it when I'm naked or wearing just a diaper. Then Mommy says "There's a nakey-bird jumping around in my living room!" and Ivan says "we took all his feathers off!"

I still have a lot of trouble sleeping because I snore and have trouble sleeping at night. Mom says I might have to get surgery for that; we're going to get it checked out. In the meantime, Ivan's started sleeping in another room, because he was having nightmares that I was a monster.