Oh yeah, he’s 2.

Will has been asserting his two-ness quite a bit lately. He doesn’t throw a lot of tantrums, but he replies to every suggestion or command with “I don’t want to!” (the way he says it is, “I want to!” but, trust me, that’s not what he means). Even if he does want to do what you suggest, he still has to reply negatively first. For example, this morning . . . Mommy: Will, time for lunch! Will: I want to! . . . (pause) . . . want sandwich!

Last weekend, the boys enjoyed a weekend with their grandparents while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed a shopping/sleeping/eating getaway in Kansas City. We had a blast! The grandparents, not so much. Will came down with a stomach bug and spent the weekend puking and pooping everywhere. I felt kind of guilty about missing out on it, until I came home and Will continued to have heinous diarrhea all this week.

Will is keeping the Easter spirit alive, and it is really fun. During the Easter season, I would shout “good news!” with the kids and then we would talk about the Cross and the Resurrection. Every couple of days, Will will say, “Good news! . . . Jesus . . . died . . . cross. Jesus not here, He is risen!” (See Matthew 28:6.) I love to hear him sharing the good news of the Gospel, and I can’t wait for the day that he truly understands the importance of what he is saying.

Will is also a budding weatherman.  Every morning in the car, we have to discuss the current weather situation . . . “sun out?”  “cloudy?”  “rain?”  and, of course, “why???”  Today it was thundering but not raining, and Will kept saying, “I hear rain!”  and I would say, “no, Will, that’s thunder,” and he would answer, “No!  I hear rain!”  Ok, I give up!

One big accomplishment for us this week was that I got Will to drink out of a straw.  Yes, for anyone who has a copy of “What to Expect in the First Year,” I realize that we are about a year to 18 months behind on this skill.  I have been trying for so long, and he just wouldn’t figure it out.  But thanks to our friend Dre, who is becoming the state’s leading expert on 2-year-old boys, I had a new tactic to try this week and it worked!  He isn’t great at it yet–he has to think hard about it, and sometimes blows bubbles instead of sucking, but there is hope.

Will is also loving having his tummy tickled.  All week he has been coming over to me, lifting up his shirt and saying, “get you!” or “tickle your tummy!”  He doesn’t have to ask me twice!  I love to hear that laugh.

Christopher went on another field trip at school today.  (Mommy had to miss it due to the aforementioned heinous diarrhea.)  He went to see farm animals.  He saw ponies, pigs, cows, and chickens.  He got to hold a baby chick and apparently milked some kind of pretend cow.  He had a blast!

Christopher also learned to count to 200 this week.  And he loves to count to 200.  The best part is, if he messes up somewhere around 150 or 160, he insists on going back to 1 and starting all over.  I think I have a perfectionist on my hands.  (I have no idea where he would have gotten it!)

Recent events

We’ve been staying busy lately with several little things. Last week, Christopher’s preschool class went to the fire station. It was so much fun. Christopher got to climb through a fire truck and see where the firemen stay while they’re working. The biggest excitement was when they got a call while we were there, and we all had to rush to one side of the fire station so they could run to their truck and head out. We even saw one fireman slide down the pole on his way to the truck!

For moms whose kids don’t have a fire station field trip . . . one thing that they taught the kids that I never would have thought of was that they had one of the firemen get dressed in all their gear, including the oxygen mask. They showed the kids that it was still the nice fireman in all that gear and let them touch him. They emphasized that if they see him coming, they shouldn’t be scared and should never hide under the covers or in the closet. But instead, they should yell, “here I am!” and come to the fireman. It never occurred to me that a fireman coming into rescue my kids would look terrifying if they’d never seen it before and they might try to run away from him.

Christopher has been really into numbers lately. A few weeks ago, I decided to see how high he could count, so we counted together, with him saying the odd numbers and I said the evens. That way, I was the one saying 20, 30, 40, etc. The next time we counted together, I took the odds and made him take the evens. Each time I said 29, 39, etc., I could see the wheels turning as he figured out what came next. So now he can count to 100 on his own and recognize all the numbers up to 100. A few days later, he asked, “what comes after 100?” and now he is recognizing a lot of three-digit numbers, too. On Saturday, he asked, “Mommy, zero comes before one, right?” “Yep,” “Then why don’t we say zero, one, two, three?” Good thing Mommy has a math minor and managed to come up with an explanation. Then we asked Grandpa (the math professor) and got a short history lesson in the invention of zero.

We continue to get plenty of laughs out of the things that come out of Will’s mouth. His latest saying is, “Oh, goodness!” The other day I called him from the other room, and I heard him say, “Oh! Oh, goodness! I’m coming!” Of course, his favorite thing to say is, “I don’t want to!”

The boys have a new game they like to play together, which I have nicknamed the Pig Juice Game. They take turns saying the name of an object and then the word “juice” or “milk” or “water.” For example: pig juice, motorcycle water, stop-sign milk. (This game is usually played in the car.) Then the other one says, “What?!?” and they laugh hysterically. Christopher’s favorite part is to say something that actually makes sense, like cow milk, then say, “Wait a minute! Cow’s make milk!” This morning at breakfast, I was delighted by how they were playing their fun new game together and laughing and having a great time. Then I discovered that part of their laughter was coming from an unauthorized addition to the Pig Juice Game–slinging milk from their cereal all over the room!

Do you ever see the cans of pumpkin in the baking aisle at the grocery store and wonder who would ever buy it outside the months of November and December?  We would.  Christopher got it in his head somehow (a long story related to his Leapster) that he wanted to make a pumpkin pie.  So we did.  And it was yummy!  Whoever thought to have pumpkin pie in April?  It might become a new spring tradition in our family!

One last thing . . . Christopher said to me this afternoon, “Mommy, is Jesus still alive?”  “Yep.”  “And I’m still four?”  “Yep.”  ‘Cause sometimes you just have to confirm those basic facts.

Swingset!

Last week, Daddy and Granddad were very busy putting together an enormous (Christopher’s new word) swingset in our backyard. They worked on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday–mostly Granddad working, joined by Daddy when he wasn’t at work–and then they slaved away in the cold rain all day Saturday until it was finished! Now we’re really ready for spring weather so we can enjoy it!

Monday, 7:30 a.m.–Daddy picks up the 5 boxes with over 3,000 parts from Sam’s Club

Tuesday morning–doesn’t seem like it is going to be done anytime soon!

Tuesday afternoon–we’re making some great progress!

Wednesday–the kids love to watch out the window, and it is starting to really come together. By Wednesday afternoon, Granddad had enough finished for the kids to play and come down the slide.

Saturday–putting on the swings and the finishing touches

All finished! Time to play! THANK YOU Daddy and Granddad for all your hard work!