Life at 2 3/4

I show you loads of pictures of him, and I tell you about our (mis)adventures. But it's been a while since I've told you what the boy is like these days.

He loves to read. Loves it. We moved his books from the bedroom to the living room [phase one of the one-to-two child(ren) home conversion], and how he reads even more. He enjoys being read to, but he really really loves just pulling his books out one at a time and reading by himself. As if I ever needed a reason to love this kid more. He has memorized many of his favorites (not at all joking or exaggerating). The other day he wanted to read all of his books to Pretend Baby Emma, whom he adores and loves to play with. He frequently talks about how he's practicing for the Real Baby Emma, who is in my tummy. He loves to show her all his toys and share them with her (hahahaha...let's see how that holds up when the Real Baby Emma comes).

Days that we are home he spends reading, playing with his cars, and generally playing a lot like Andy from Toy Story (as in, taking random toys and putting on elaborate and complicated stories with them). He's obsessed with Backyardigans, and a solid half of each day is spent emulating them, although he typically just kicks off a session with a character and a song and turns it into something entirely his own, complete with costumes, soundtrack, and choreography. I love it. We don't really have costumes (seriously, who can afford $30 for a crappy pirate costume?), so he assembles outfits with eclectic things he finds around the house. Like his sun-hat, a pair of Matt's work shoes, a long hair ribbon or strand of yarn for a rope, and Matt's belt slung around his shoulder with a hammer in the buckle (cowboy). Often his Superman cape and rain boots are involved. He also loves fixing things with his Handy Manny tools, along with a few extra tools from the dollar bin at Target. He doesn't have a toolbelt, so for now he stuffs them in his pockets and uses his cowboy holster (Matt's belt) as a toolbelt. He gets attached to really strange things for a phase, like right now it's a little whisk he got in the dollar bin at Michael's.

He's very active. He loves to run, jump, and get dirty (except for his hands--he loves to get them dirty, but then immediately wants them clean). He loves to play outside. His favorite outdoor activities include sidwalk chalk (well, mostly handing me the chalk and telling me what to draw), bubbles, basketball, soccer (I think his favorite sport for the moment), baseball, and playing in the "jungle" (the neighbor's bushes--off limits, but he always tries). He also likes to take his big cars out there. Anything he does involves characters, singing, dancing, and elaborate story lines, often involving pirates, cowboys, and/or superheroes. He likes to ride his bike, except he doesn't like to pedal because it's "too slow". I try to encourage him to practice, which will make him faster, but he will have none of it. His friends have pedal-less "bikes," on which they go very fast. Any time they bring out their bikes, a battle ensues. We're saving up for one for his birthday, although we continue to encourage him to practice with his real bike.

His imagination is out of control, and he's way too clever for my liking. He can open and unlock anything, as well as construct ladders out of anything to reach anything. He has finally figured out that he can get out of his bed, and he does. Constantly. I can't remember the last time he slept past 6:30am, regardless of his bedtime, naptime, etc. He does not like to eat meals, only snacks (no need to question my parenting--we still sit him at the table for every meal, whether he eats or not). Sometimes I lie and call dinner a snack, because sometimes it works. He likes to pick his own pajamas, and randomly decides is doesn't like or is afraid of things he actually loves. He knows what and where everything is--Henry's, Target, Trader Joe's, the craft store, the mall, the park, my work, his babysitter's, our house. His favorite outings are the mall, the park, the beach, Disneyland, the zoo, and the aquarium.

He's VERY articulate. He talks like an adult, and it's hysterical and amazing. He uses everything--adjectives, adverbs (currently his favorites are probably, maybe, actually, really, and just), prepositional phrases, conjunctions--I'm so proud.

So that's our guy. He's amazing. In the time it took me to write this post, he read, put a puzzle together, donned a costume and played superhero, fixed things with his tools, organized his construction trucks,  skimmed through Alton Brown's cookbook, and played Peter Pan. Right now he's laying on the couch singing a song and playing with the box for the craft we tried (and failed) to make earlier this morning.

As Ben would say, "See you later, pard'ner!"