21 months, going on 2 years

My baby boy is almost two, and he's definitely showing signs of it. Besides the heinous tantrums, there are sweet things. He's talking so much, and I'm so proud of him. He can use articles (Matt: Ben, what are you reading? Ben: A book!) and make sentences (I want Cheerios!). He also loves to make up games. The other day I curled up on the couch with him to watch Sesame Street. I put my head in his lap (he loves when I do that--he likes to play with my hair and snuggle). He said, "Mommy!" I popped my head up and said, "what, baby?" He said, "Go to sleep!" then pushed my head back in his lap. He did it over and over and over again until the Gibbses came knocking on our door asking to play. He LOVES trains (choo choos) and cars, and he loves to cook. He also loves to read out loud. He can count to three (although sometimes he just says 2 and 9), knows his colors [but to be fair, some days everything is boo (blue)] and a few letters, can make at least a dozen animal sounds, and can identify pretty much every body part. He loves to build things (mostly towers) with his megabloks and duplo legos. And he could kick and throw a ball around all day. We don't do a lot of TV with him, but his 30 minutes a day(ish) comes from Sesame Street, movies like Cars and Nemo, and now Thomas. While he's a big-time snuggler and loves giving hugs and kisses (including open-mouth ones to Adalee), he's all boy. He's a ball of energy and he loves to get dirty. One of the things that's really fun (and a little sad--isn't it always when we realize our babies are growing up?) is that he's now able to really enjoy and do just about everything at the park. Our favorite park has this amazing playground equipment on the all-weather stuff, but they still have a sand area. Ben could spend hours at the park, running up and down the ramps, sliding on the swide, and playing in the sand with his shobo (shovel) and bkt (bucket).

Benjamin Aidan, I can't believe how big and wonderful you are. I LOVE you, and I LOVE sharing my life with you.