Two and a Half

In this picture of Eddie and Josie, he is sharing (unprompted) his beloved bowling pin animals with Josie. She had a pretty good grip on it, but at this point, is letting go. He kept making her laugh, which is why I hauled out the camera and he was having a good time with her.

Yesterday I asked Den if he knew what day it was (the 21st of Aug). He said that he knew Eddie would be 2 ½ the next day. I also reminded him I had one more month and then I’d be gasp! Another year older. So today Eddie is 2 ½. With each milestone of his birthday, I feel a combination of pride and wistfulness. There are no do-overs when rasiing a child—you can’t rewind. Over the last six months, Ed’s enunciation of 'baa baa black sheep, have you any wool' has progressed to near flawless, from it’s previous ‘w’ laden pronounciation. So unless I captured it, it’s gone (I’m pretty sure I did get him saying it at least once).

Commiserate with being 2 and a half, the picture of Ed is the only one he wanted taken today.

He is nearing the potty training stage, often excited to try sitting on the potty, or telling us he’s filled his diapers. He ‘reads’ books --because he has them memorized. He LOVES reading books and will ask for book after book after book. He’s gotten quite skilled at puzzles—this was something I was initially worried about because he didn’t seem to be ‘getting’ it—he is now.

Eddie talks almost daily about seeing g’parents Wisc. And Ohio. His toddler wisdom says he likes g’parents Wisc. House better than g’parents Ohio because—“they have more balls”. My speculation is that g'parents Ohio will have a near ball pit the next time we visit (not needed btw--g'parents Ohio just had so many toys, we didn’t bother trotting out the balls they had).

Speaking of balls, Ed has taken a liking to all kinds of other toys--trains, cars, puzzles, you name it.

Oh and I almost forgot--when we visited g'parents Ohio a couple weeks back--another forthcoming post, Den commented on what a negotiator Eddie was. This cracked g'ma up who said that was what I was like as a child. You say 3 books, he'll work for 4. You say 5 min, he'll suck 10 more out. And he's got an angle--it's fun towhat stall tatics or negotiating maneuvers he makes next.

And one other thing I forgot about the beach house--Ed slept in a twin bed with bed rails and he did great. I don't think he realized he could get in and out of the bed--even though he climbed in on his own each night and for nap. Cracked me up. I sure wasn't going to be the one to tell him to get out of bed on his own. Now I'm not sure about the whole toddler bed thing--I was that I wanted to get him one because they were so cute--and we had a mattress that was so new, but now I'm not as convinced. We'll see--for now he's happy in his crib--and so are we.