Little M: 2 years, 2 months, & 13 days

I open his door to find him sleepy-eyed and wild-haired... and all wrapped up in his mint green Mimi blanket.

He smiles big. "You come tuddle (cuddle) wit me?" 

No matter how late we are running, that's one request I cannot and will not say no to. I squeeze onto his toddler bed, cheek to cheek with him.

"Need blanket, Mommy?" he asks, as he spreads his blanket over me. "Need baby?" he wants to know, as he hands me his beloved stuffed puppy. One morning, as we went through the motions of this daily morning routine, he looked at me and laughed. "I funny, Mommy! I laughin'!"

He loves to "tuddle" with Daddy too!

(Daddy told M to close his eyes and go back to sleep.)

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Today, I'm not sharing lots of stories from our week. I just wanted to take some time to record a little about M and this season of life that we are all in. When your lifestyle begins to feel like one long string of never-ending transitions, it is far too easy to always look ahead or behind and not soak up today.

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M is constantly amazing us with the sentences he puts together... sometimes complete with conjunctions, articles and the works! Just the other day, he informed us: "I growin' up." Yes little M, you are.... way too fast.

Recently we were at the park when he spotted an airplane, soaring through the sky. "I see airplane! I ride it?" I told him, no, we won't be riding one today. "Two months," he said confidently (and correctly). Can you tell that this is a conversation we have often?

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He loves playing with his toys, but he still doesn't enjoy playing with them by himself for more than a few minutes. "Tum (come) in my bed-woom and play toys," he'll ask us. Parents with older kids assure me that eventually he will learn to entertain himself, but I'll believe it when I see it! Our little extrovert just LOVES being around people... all the time!

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M is learning to love serving others. If we are sitting at the table sharing a meal, he is constantly offering us this or that... even though he is buckled in his booster seat and won't be able to follow through on any of his offers! If M and I are both drinking milk, he is quick to ask Daddy: "You want some milk? You would like some?"(K, who hates milk, is equally quick to say "No, thank you!") Some mornings, K and I eat breakfast before M wakes up, leaving him to eat at the table by himself while we run around getting ready for the day. This throws him for a loop! "You wanna eat, Mommy? You hungry? Need a plate? Want Cheerios?" 

  
Here we are, sharing a hot fudge sundae at DQ.  It was all I could do to keep him from eating up all the chocolate! 

He doesn't restrict his generosity to us, either. He loves offering his goldfish or other snacks to complete strangers, and he is delighted any time that they bravely eat one! However, before you start thinking that he is a world-class sharer, I will add that he does much better at sharing when it is HIS idea and not another child's.

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He loves reading picture books about the Bible. "Jesus Raises Lazarus" was a recent favorite that we had fun acting out as a family. "I Lazaruff!" M would declare as he lay in "the tomb" (under a chair) and then jumped out, wrapped in "cloths" (a blanket). His favorite line is "Lazaruff, 'tum' OUT!!" which he shouts as loud as he can.

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M is always excited to cuddle up in the chair with Daddy and his Hi-Hi "puter" to watch a movie. Berenstain Bears a.k.a. "Stain Bears" and Franklin a.k.a. "that turtle" have become recent favorites, especially after we learned that we can borrow DVDs from our public "li-berry" for free! 

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As adorable and sweet as M can be, he is still a human... and a two year old human at that. Whew! His rebellious and obstinate side is rearing its head a lot lately! We know that his desire to assert his independence is a big part of being two, but we also believe it is important to shepherd his heart by setting boundaries and teaching truth even now. 

Sometimes, though, it is all that K and I can do not to absolutely crack up at some of the ridiculous things he says when he is mad. If we have to take something away from him, he often starts listing all the things that are "his." "That's mine! That's my book. That's my bed. That's my blanket. That's my wall. That's my door. That's my table!" One day recently, I was changing his clothes, but he wanted to stay in his pajamas. "Leave my 'jamas on! I wear that!" He went on and on about this until he really got desperate, saying "I take off my hair!!" Some days, we can do is laugh ... out of his sight, of course. :)

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I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for reading, and for loving our family... even from afar. We love you!