I swear John gets more independent and funnier by the day. Yesterday as he was "helping" me clean the house up some, he made himself a glass of water! Like got a cup, some ice, and water from the fridge. I was so proud.
He says crazy things all of the time, and his vocabulary literally leaves me speechless some days. He uses words all of the time that I just never knew he was picking up from us. And usually they're positive words...except when his Nina taught him "dern." Ahem...shame, shame Nina. ;)
I spend my time wavering between being totally convinced he is the best child that has ever lived and totally convinced that he is part sociopath, but I'm learning that this must just be what three is like! He can be so sweet and so rational one moment, and then next thing I know he's throwing a toy at me because I didn't know that he wanted a muffin and not a waffle. I'm learning to revisit those terrible two checks: is he tired, hungry, sick or is he just being defiant before I react too harshly, but boy he is learning to really push those boundaries these days! Just pray for all of us. ;)
On a more positive note though, he really is funny and so seriously smart. I know it may sound narcissistic that I say he's smart, but he is. I can't claim that he inherited it from me though because his real interests so far seem to be math and science related. He is really good with numbers and is so interested in volcanoes right now that it's borderline strange. His imagination is huge, and he spends all of his time in some far away land. Matt and I of course play a large role in these adventures and are constantly running around this house to fight off some monster or dragon or fire or to avoid the hot lava from a volcano of course. I'm a little worried about his total lack of interest in letters, but I assume they'll come eventually. Of course, every time another child points out a letter I feel an urge to break out the flashcards immediately, but I'm learning quickly that Johnboy is a hands on learner. He has no interest in being quizzed on anything. In fact, he takes great pride in getting things wrong on purpose as if he's saying "patronize me with this nonsense, and I'll patronize you back." I feel sorry for his future teachers. He is also still as in to music as ever. His current love is the drums so we're sort of waiting around for the right time to get him a real drum. I'm thinking right before we have a newborn in the house may not be the right time. :/ Matt tells me that's what they make electric drum sets for though. He really has an ear for music. He can sing right on key and has a ton of rhythm. I'm almost done bragging on him...for a long time we always said that we didn't think John would be our athlete because he had little interest in sports and sort of struggled with the two left feet syndrome, but recently, out of nowhere, he has become a bit of a sports guy. He loves to throw and catch, he can actually hit a ball with a bat when you toss it to him, AND he can kick like a son of a gun. Perhaps one shouldn't make judgements about their kid's abilities when they're only two years old. Whoops! On the potty training front, we don't even remember him not being potty trained. He just takes care of business when he needs to and very rarely has an accident. He still sleeps in diapers, but as I've stated before, we're fine with that. That's more of a mom and dad comfort thing than a John comfort thing probably. We just want him to sleep as much as possible and not be disturbed by needing to potty during the nap or bedtimes. ALSO- he has taken to his big boy bed like a champ. I expected this huge horrible transition, but he just gets in and hangs out. He continues to fight sleep as he always has by singing to himself or talking to his stuffed animals, but he doesn't get out of the bed over and over again which I could not be more grateful for.
All in all-Matt and I continue to be head over heels for our "big boy" (God bless the poor soul who calls him a baby). Every now and then when we have a minute alone, we find ourselves just oohing and aahing over how amazing he is and how different our lives would be if he were not a part of it. We had John when we were younger than many and occasionally we think about how different our lives are compared to our counterparts, but my goodness, we are blessed beyond belief. He multiplies our joy infinitely more than we expected.
And back to what John is doing this Wednesday...totally got off track there!
John has been soaking up some time in his baby pool when mama is too lazy to walk him down to YMCA and get in the big pool.
He's been working on one of his other passions, cooking. This is him doing inventory on his spices.
He's been spending as much time with daddio as possible. Second year is already better than first, but there are many more overnight calls so we're learning to adjust to those.
He's been living it up at the park.
And getting some serious work done there as well.
He's been cooling off in the car. This was at the park the other day and he announced to me that "we should go sit in the car and turn on the air conditioning and have a snack and some water." Poor guy is a sweaty kid!
He's been bathing with dad? This picture is probably too personal for the blog, but it makes me laugh!
And today he enjoyed a fun day with dad! He tried on his new super cool bookbag from the McCormicks (Thanks Robert and Shaunna!! He is the coolest kid around!) and took it to the dollar movie days with Matt. They treated me like a princess today. Matt took John to see a movie so I could have a minute alone to decompress a bit. Then I found out that I had an afternoon massage scheduled which was divine. And then we all went on a date to get some bbq...because a pregnant woman has needs occasionally for a sweet tea, salad bar, and piece of barbecue chicken. No clue where that came from, but that's what was on my mind today!
And that's what John was doing this Wednesday!