Saturday. Two Years Old.

Around 7:00 I wake up to Ted sniffing my face and boofing to go outside. I flip on the video monitor. He’s still sleeping. This is a new thing, sleeping past 6. Most days he’s still asleep when I leave for work. While it’s nice to have the morning to myself, I do get kind of sad when I don’t get so give him a hug and kiss his sweet checks before leaving.  But it’s Saturday so I wait until he’s moving around a little bit then get up to let the dogs out. Ted’s thundering down the stairs almost always wakes him up and today was no different.  Once the dogs are fed, I go get him out of bed. “Hi mommy! I’m awake!”  “Go out dere!” and points toward the living room. I carry him out and sit in the chair with him for a little bit while he says hi to the dogs and Daddy. I plead with him a little bit to change his diaper but have to promise we can leave his jammies on before I get the OK.  I change his diaper and send him back out to the living room while also trying to ask him what he wants for breakfast. If he doesn’t eat right away in the morning he gets really, really hangry. A trait he inherited most certainly from me.  We decide on waffles and he goes to play with his train table. “Mommy play choo-choos!” “ Daddy play choo-choos!” Zach keeps him busy while I make his breakfast.  I tell him it’s ready and he comes running in the kitchen “time to eat!” We negotiate back and forth on where he will sit, high chair or table? Stool? Ultimately landing at the kitchen table where he demands to pour his own syrup.  Breakfast lasts quite a long time including many “are you finished” questions followed by removing his plate only to have to return it because, “I eat!”.  Finally we are all done and hands are washed and face is wiped.

Zach feels especially productive this morning and starts tidying the house. I get ready for the day because I want to get to the grocery store early to get it out of the way. I plan to take David because he loves going to Price Chopper, mostly because he gets a piece of cheese. Zach drags out the vacuum and David gets really excited “I do it!!” he cries after Zach starts the vacuum. Zach tries to give him the vacuum and he runs away frustrated. Zach starts to vacuum again. “I DO IT!” David screams. Rinse and repeat. I, give up, grab him and go change him so we can go and Zach can vacuum in peace. Today he wears a grey football tshirt shirt and red swishy pants. With matching red and grey socks. I don my yoga pants and Old Navy tshirt. The Mom Uniform. David gets excited when I tell him we are going in the car.  “Go to Papa’s house!” I tell him we’ll go to Papa’s house tomorrow, right now we are going to Price Chopper. “Price Chopper!!! Piece of cheese! Mommy drive the cart!” We load in the car and off we go.

First we go to the car wash. He’s not so sure about the car wash. He does ok during the soap and even the brush part, but once the blowers turned on, he was done. “Mommy get it outta here!!!”  Next stop Price Chopper, which is thankfully not busy. Grocery shopping with David is always good, just so long as he gets his piece of cheese. Sometimes the deli people sense his excitement and give him one, but today I had to pull a slice out of our pack. He always says “Thank you!” to the deli guy anyway then continues to remind me “I got a piece of cheese!” as we continue our shopping. He charms the checkout lady as usual and waves bye bye as we leave. Sometimes he says “have a good one!” which just cracks me up.

By the time we get home it’s almost lunch time and with the amount of time it’s been taking him to eat, I start making his lunch pretty quickly while he plays with his “hayride” toy. It’s a tractor and trailer with a few different animals in it that Zach’s mom gave him for his birthday. Our neighbors had a hayride for Halloween and that’s how we went trick or treating. So as he unloads all the animals he says “go trick or treat!” and then after they do so he says “OK! Time to go!” and loads them back up.  Lunch was a turkey and cheese sandwich (he only at the turkey and cheese). Along with some grapes and wheat thins. Lunch lasts approximately 45 minutes, including a time out for something Zach and I cannot remember at all except for the fact that I had to leave the room because I was laughing so hard about it.

After lunch we play with his new Magna Doodle where he scribbles, erases and repeats like he’s done it a million times. I’m trying to teach him his letters and name so I write those several times. “Mommy write my name!”  D-A-V-I-D spells David! Scribble, scribble, scribble! I keep a close eye on the clock and know that if he doesn’t go down for his nap by 12:15, it’s not happening. Today he seems especially tired and actually asked “nigh-night?” and trotted off to his room without protest when I said it's time for nap. We read some books (Hello Bugs, The Velveteen Rabbit and Moo Cows), rock a little bit in his chair, take a few extra drinks of water, close the blinds and out I slip. 

Nap Time! Yessss! Zach embraces nap time and heads to the office to play some video games. As much as I’d like to nap myself, I always end up getting busy doing something else. Today I decide to go in the basement to do my “Fusion Fitness Dream Body Workout” DVD. It is ridiculously hard and I cuss out the TV on multiple occasions. It’s over an hour long, but I still am able to get in my shower and some cheese and crackers before I hear David talking in his crib.

Zach goes and gets him while I keep sacking. We cuddle on the couch for a few minutes then I head off to dry my hair. Zach and David have “guy time” and I hear them playing in-between drying my hair and putting on my makeup. I believe a stinky diaper was also changed somewhere in there.  It’s rare that Zach’s home at this time with his crazy football schedule so I take my time getting ready and dressed (back in the Mom Uniform!), lounge around on the bed for a bit with the dogs and I even check Facebook on the iPad a couple times! Luxurious!

I come out to the Nebraska game on TV and David playing with his trucks on the couch. We lounge around for a little bit and even open the house up because it’s getting so warm. I know we need to get outside and enjoy the day. I get David a snack and soon he’s asking to go outside. No neighbor kids appear to be home so I tell him we are going to go to the park and then to Target – another favorite shopping spot of his. The Nebraska game is close and Zach was on pins and needles so I thought it best to let him watch the game in peace. Ha! We head to Harris Park outside of Summit Waves and much to my surprise it’s not very busy. Usually it’s crawling with kids, especially on nice days.   As usual he doesn’t spend much time on the playground equipment but instead wants to “go get a drink” from the Lion water fountain  that’s been there since I was a kid.  He’s never gotten a drink from a water fountain, let alone a Lion water fountain so I’m kind of perplexed as to how he knows what it is. We walk over and discover the water if off. Oh darn. Then he notices all the walnut(?) balls that have fallen off the trees and begins collecting as many as his little hands can hold. During the two split seconds I look away, he has taken one and put it in the lion water fountain. Of course it’s exactly the same size as the drain and promptly gets stuck. Oh yay! Just barely two and already destroying vintage park property. I spend the next 10 minutes trying to fish the thing out with tiny little sticks. I’m sure the other parents are giving me the major side-eye. Finally I get it out and try to distract David back to the playground. No way, no how.  So we keep gathering sticks, kicking balls and watching a long train go by until it really is time to go.

He loads up in the car without much protest. “Go to Papa’s house!!” I tell him again that we’ll go to Papa’s house in the morning, but right now we are going to Target. “I go to Target’s house!” He actually holds my hand and walks from the car to the store without being held. It doesn’t happen often, but it just melts my heart when he’ll hold my hand. We don’t need much at Target but decide to wander around a little bit. He really is the best shopping buddy. Never complains and loves to look at things just as much as I do. We go over to the Christmas section and he is utterly fascinated by all the trees and lights. “see the Christmas twees!” “See the lights!” He gets a little upset when I walk away, but I make a note to take him out to see as many Christmas light displays as possible this year.  As we walk through the clothes section he likes to point out things and while we were in the coat section he goes “that’s a nice jacket!”. Maybe I had said it earlier and he was just repeating, but I love my little shopping buddy!

On the way home I decide I’m not up for making dinner. I call Zach and ask if we should just pick up some McDonalds on the way home (a banner day for eating – clearly. As an aside, I swear I feed David more wholesome meals during the week. No really. Sometimes we even drink green smoothies together!) He gives me his order and I ask David if he’d like a Happy Meal. He squeals back “Happy meal! French… Fries!! I want French….Fries!” He’s only had a Happy Meal one other time in his life so again, my mind is baffled.  We get home and really go full on “parent of the year” and wheel his highchair out into the living room so we can all watch the end of the Nebraska game (it’s tied!).  David dives into his fries first, happily munching away. He tries a few bites of his cheeseburger but in the end devours all of his apples, most of his fries and leaving almost all of his cheeseburger behind. Sacrilege. The game ends (a win!) and we put on some music and play with all his toys on the floor. "Mommy! Sit on the floor!"  "Daddy! Sit on the floor!"  The dogs chew their bones and the cat curls up on the couch. Pretty much perfection.

By 7:15 the fussies start to creep in because his nap wasn't quite long enough. It's Zachs night to do bath time. I fill up the tub while Zach gets a towel and washcloth. In the meantime David asks to sit on the potty. Success! Then into the tub. I pick up toys and get his crib ready while he and Zach play in the bath. After bath, lotion, jammies and a quick hair combing we are back in the bathroom to brush teeth. It's a nightly battle, but it's getting easier each night.

"I have a ssssnack!" he yells as we head back to the bedroom to read books. We've been in a bad habit of letting him have a snack before bed and we're gradually phasing it out. Tonight he gets two animal crackers and a cup of water. "Sit on the floooooor!".  We read Thomas, Hello Bugs, Goodnight Moon, Moo Cow and then he says goodnight to Daddy and I get to rock him in the chair for a few minutes. He wants to keep sitting on the floor but eventually let me hold him. Just for a few minutes though. He asks to "go nigh-night" pretty quickly. I put him in the crib, ask if he wants a book (he does, Thomas) and give him one last drink of water before coming his hair back and saying I love you. I leave the night light on and begin to close the door. "Love you buddy, good night."  "WUVVVA YOU MOMMY!"  "WUVVA YOU!"  "love you too David, nigh-night"  "NIGHT!!!"  

I giggle, close the door and head to our room where I sit on the bed and flip on the monitor. He doesn't fuss tonight. He rolls a round a bit, looks at his book for a minute, then sets it down, sucks his two fingers, crosses his legs and mumbles till he falls asleep. A few hours later I creep back into his room, peek in his crib and watch him sleep for a few moments then click off the nightlight and head to bed myself. 

Love you buddy. Love you. 

Two years old is pretty good, guys.