Rewind 4 1/2 months...

I wrote this post about Kai a few days after he turned 2, and then (as I often do) forgot to finish it and forgot to post it.  So, it's not complete, but my memory is failing me (already!) and I'll just post it as is.  Without further ado, let's rewind 4 1/2 months to see what Kai was up to at the age of 2.

I realize it's so cliche to say this, but where have the last 2 years gone?  My baby is 2!  It's hard to believe, except when I see/hear/feel his attitude I fully believe it :) Yes, 2 is definitely here and I have to admit that the attitude is already exhausting me a little bit.  And, people keep telling me that 2 is mild compared to 3!

In its own way, 2 is really wonderful.  In fact, in many ways it's even better than any age before it, but it does have its difficult moments.

These days our house is filled with many opinions, emotions and words like, "No!", "I do it myself" and "Hey, watch out!" as our little terror busts around, running, jumping, slipping, falling, wrestling and enjoying the new found freedom of opening doors.

In addition to the chaos though, there are times of peace.  As always, I am so thankful for Kai's love of reading because it means that we get to sit and cuddle while learning all kinds of new things.  Kai has never been a sitter.  He has always hated to just sit on our laps unless we have either food or books.  So, we unashamedly use these things to bribe a cuddle out of him. :)  Reading is also fun these days since I randomly discovered that Kai not only has the main plots of the stories memorized, but the actual words.  One evening I paused before the last word of a sentence while reading to him and he blurted out the word correctly.  So I started experimenting and soon discovered that even in books that we hadn't read together for weeks, he knew the last word/s in every sentence!  It continues to amaze me how incredibly fast/well their little brains are growing and working at this age.

These days Kai also loves to help out and be involved in anything we're doing.  He especially enjoys "helping" me make supper.  He likes to set the table and  stand up on a chair at the counter and ask innumerable times, "What's this?" or "What's that?", while sampling all of the ingredients he can get his little hands on.  He also sneaks many plums and apples for himself when I'm up on the ladder picking from our abundant fruit trees.  I'm sure that at his check-up next week we'll see that he has no problems with his weight!
I keep reminding myself that Kai might not always want to hang out with Bryon and me as much as he does now.  He is constantly saying, "Mommy come too-too" as he tries to entice me to participate in all of his adventures, and although I may have other things I want to get done, I've been trying to put those aside to enjoy these little moments together with him.

Changing Mr. Duplo's diaper :)  And of course, there is always a truck close by.