So, our baby is two - or, as he says, "Doo!"
And as much as he tries to act like he's one of the big kids, he has also fully embraced the 2-year-old behavior that earned this age the "terrible" title.
His favorite words are "NO!" and "MINE!" and they must always be yelled. Come to think of it, almost everything must be yelled.
If Gabe or Dante picks up a toy and starts to play with it, it instantly becomes the only toy in the house that he wants to play with and HE MUST HAVE IT IMMEDIATELY!
He's still a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but is also now an avid watcher of Phineas & Ferb, a show that we only recently let his big brothers start watching. Such is the life of the third child. He'll now sit on the couch and demand "Ferb! Ferb! Ferb!" instead of "Mitt-mey! Mitt-mey! Mitt-mey!"
Everything is a game. And almost everything is a game called "I don't want to do what you want me to do, so I'm going to run away and make you chase me - isn't that hysterical?!"
Getting his diaper changed and getting him dressed are contact sports. I literally have to head him off at the pass and tackle him - which is exactly what he wants me to do.
It's all fun and games - until we're running late for the school bus, and Carmine is only half-dressed, and Gabe and Dante don't have their coats on yet, and are yelling and fighting over who gets to open the door. Then it's not so fun anymore.
Everything he says is repeated 3, or 4, or 5, or 17 times - as many times as it takes you to acknowledge what he's said, and agree with him.
This leads to me listening to him yell frantically in the backseat of the car "dump truck! dump truck! dump truck! dump truck!" any time he spots any kind of truck-like vehicle on the road.
Have I mentioned how completely and utterly obsessed he is with trucks? He eats, sleeps, and breathes trucks. Other vehicles are appreciated, too, but not quite the same way trucks are.
We learned this weekend that he also loves the snow. He was out there stomping around in his big boots, and "fuffeling" [shoveling] the driveway with Daddy.
Just as exciting as being out in the snow, though, was sitting in the house and watching the snow plow. "Dump truck! Dump truck! Dump truck!"
He still struggles to find words, and still has some very mangled pronunciations (strawberries are "raw-rhee"), but his vocabulary has exploded, and he's working really hard on putting sentences together.
He has a lot of two-word sentences ("Mommy coat. Mommy hat. Daddy shirt. Hold plate" and so on), and has even occasionally put together some three- and four-word sentences. It's so exciting to have him really conversing with us.
And he really does make sure he's part of the conversation - especially at dinner. One of the cutest things is when Scott will sit down and ask Gabe and Dante how their day was, and then he'll ask Carmine, and Carmine will nod and answer "good."
He loved his birthday - well, most of his birthday. He loved the kitchen we got him, and is having so much fun cooking. He spent 10 minutes yesterday morning making me syrup. There were plates of syrup, bowls of syrup, cups of syrup, pots of syrup. Yum, yum, yum. Syrupy goodness.
He also loved opening the rest of his presents. He ripped right into them, and as he saw what each one was, he'd yell out "whooooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"
And he spent a good part of the morning running around the house yelling "Hot Baby To You! Hot Baby To You!" which had Gabe and Dante (and me) giggling hysterically.
What he didn't love was us singing "Happy Birthday" to him. As soon as we started singing, he started yelling "No, no, no!" I thought he was just being his usual ornery self (When I went in his room yesterday morning and said Happy Birthday to him, he also yelled "No, no, no!")
But as we continued singing, he got more and more emphatic. And by the time we finished (yes, we sang the whole song, even though he clearly was not even coming close to enjoying it), he was sobbing. Even the promise of a slice of cake couldn't calm him down.
A few minutes of snuggling with Mommy did the trick, though, and after that and some of his Mickey cake, all was well. Definitely made for a memorable 2nd birthday celebration.
I'd expect nothing less from our adorable, excitable, and exceedingly enthusiastic little boy : )
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