The Terrific Twos

It is becoming quite obvious at our house that someone is going to turn 2 soon.  He has let us know of his upcoming birthday by the turned up intensity of his tantrums, which are also appearing more frequently.  He also now believes that since the age 2 is imminent, he is now old enough to do things such as CONSTANTLY climb the kitchen countertops to combine or dump whatever has been left there.  There were at least 2-3 instances where he got a whole container of maple syrup and decorated the countertops and floor with it (one of those times he combined the container of maple syrup with a whole container of peanut butter).  He also learned that he is good at climbing and will scale the pantry shelves, climb to the very top to find the Little Debbie snacks that I keep for the kid's school lunches and happily sit on the top shelf munching Swiss Rolls until he finds that he is stuck and hollers for mom (or falls) to get down.  We have since figured out how to lock him out of the pantry. 

As much as he loves Little Debbies, he has no love for toys and much prefers anything with an element of danger such as matches, knives, stovetops, toasters, electric can opener, etc.  I can't go to the bathroom anymore, which is becoming quite an issue as I become more pregnant... in fact just now he brought me the shelf out of the oven which he just opened and pulled out.  At least the oven wasn't on.

Do you know what else he is not interested in?  TV!  What toddler doesn't love Elmo?  Mine.  As much as I don't want my kids to sit and watch TV all day, sometimes it would be darn nice to be able to sit him in front of that entertainment box while I clean a bathroom instead of having him dump bathroom cleaner all over, wipe mirrors down with hand soap and throw sopping wet towels down my back.

All said... this is not a post about those "terrible" twos.  Nope, instead, I will tell you how terrific it is to have a little boy with so much creative energy.  He has such a fun loving personality and loves to play with his siblings.  He finds me hysterically funny when I take the time to play with him which is very flattering as the older the other kids get, the less funny I become.  He says the cutest things as his vocabulary constantly grows and has been known to chase his brothers and sisters around the house saying "Hee, Hee, Hee, I'll get you!" in a witchy voice.  He is so obsessed by basketball that he constantly is pulling out his dad's old basketball jerseys and putting them on in the most twisted and crazy ways.  He has a soft heart for babies and gets very worried when they cry.  He seems to understand that we are getting a baby and is very excited about the prospect of it.  I could go on and on with some of his fun and adorable quirks, but I am saving them for his birthday post in a couple of weeks.  We are trying to psych him up for his birthday, and at the very mention of cake, he gets very excited.

He loves baths with sister, Charlotte, and the two always follow up bath time with a rousing game of duck and frog.

Charlotte is becoming an expert photo bomber.  I couldn't get a shot of Bronson without later finding that she made her way into every shot!

Always got to peek in on him at the end of the day to remind myself of his sweet innocence.  Nothing better than falling asleep after playing with a dump truck. 

I've got to cherish these moments because they are going so fast and before I know it we are going to be out of the toddler stage of our lives all together.  What a sad/(happy) thought!