My Terrific Two Year Old!

The big number 2. I can't believe my sweet baby boy is 2 years old now. I don't want to believe it. I want that cuddly giggle box who I could leave sitting on his play pad for a minute and come back to him still there...happy as can be! Sometimes now, I feel like there is a barnacle attached to me. Ranger is all about following mommy and "helping" me with whatever I'm doing. Its great most of the time...except when the clean dishes get unloaded onto the dirty kitchen floor, or when half his toys get "cleaned up" only to be found on my bed or in my closet. I've also found socks in the trash can and sippy cups in the pots and pans. God bless that child...he could be a spectacular pirate someday...hiding all that treasure.

We celebrated Ranger's birthday with a mommy-son trip to San Antonio on Friday! We visited the zoo and saw some of his favorite animals. We even went inside the Lories exhibit where you can feed nectar to the birds. Ranger was ecstatic! He wanted so bad for one to land on his arm, but he was far too wiggly!  We passed the tiger exhibit only to have Ranger roar at the sleeping tiger. "Mommy! Tiger sleep...wake up? Yeah? Rooooaar!" Needless to say, it was a fantastic trip! We also held his birthday party this weekend! He had a great time and we very much enjoyed the family and friends who came! We are incredibly grateful for all the support we have received since Ranger came into our family and Ranger loved all the attention. I never knew singing "Happy Birthday" would bring such a radiant smile to his face. Grandpa and Babushka (Washington grandparents) even joined in on Skype for the presents! Ranger has talked non-stop about his friend Lucas and Crazy Uncle Richard who were at the party. After church today, he requested to play with Loooocuss and Unca Richard several times.

What's new with our 2 year old?...Counts to twenty...works alphabet puzzles in less than 2 minutes...sings the alphabet...says full prayers...can sing most of "Jesus Loves Me"...says "Cooze Me" after burping, passing gas, and coughing...loves hiding in curtains, mommy's skirts, blankets, and shower curtains to play "Where's Ranger?" And I am so excited to say that Ranger is constantly asking to go to church! Almost every time we get into the car now, he asks if we are going to church. We were getting ready to go out the door the other day, he looks up at me and says, "Church mommy? Yeah? Church! Come on Momma!" Love it.

Oh the negativity of the terrible twos. Every kid goes through it...and Ranger is deep into it. But I've realized that the majority of things I say about him tend to be negative as of late. And I'm ashamed of myself for it! He is constantly learning and growing right before my eyes and all I concentrate on is the negative. Time for a change. How am I supposed to raise him to be a positive giver and a hard worker if I'm constantly complaining about his behavior and getting frustrated at every turn. Motherhood...challenging at every turn. I'll get it eventually. Maybe around the same time Ranger understands that flushing every toilet in the house over and over will only earn him a timeout. Speaking of flushing the toilet...guess who went potty all by himself the other day? I was drying my hair when he came to tell me he needed to potty. I told him to go ahead and I'd be there in a second...next thing I know, he's tugging on my pant leg...butt naked. He was dancing because he was so excited to show me that he had gone potty (in his potty, thankfully) all by himself. Growing up so fast...

Until next time, friends. He's 2 now.  Oh the places he'll go!