Mac - 2.5 Years

Dear Mac,

Holy moly, this is the most insane age ever!  You are a such a little fireball right now and are definitely giving us a run for our money.  Most days I don't know whether to love this age or cry myself to sleep at night because I feel like the crappiest parent ever. You are wild and crazy, sweet and kind, evil and hilarious, all within a 5 minute span.  You go from insanely adorable to just fucking insane at the speed of light.  Defiant and opinionated don't even begin to describe you right now and I'm blown away by how intense your emotions and actions can be. You are all ATTITUDE and personality and will probably give your dad and I both a heart attack before your next birthday.  Two and a half is seriously BONKERS.

As for 2.5 year stats, you're still long and lean, like you have been your whole life.  You are 36 inches tall and weigh 29 pounds.  You're in 2T clothes, but they're not exactly long enough for your legs, yet 3T falls right off your skinny waist. You're still in Size 4 diapers and despite being able to tell me that you have to "go," you absolutely refuse to use the potty (even with major bribes of treats and presents). Fine. You're one wild little ball of pure energy that can run on milk and Skittles for days. You're a decent eater (when it's something you like), but you definitely have your opinions on food. You absolutely refuse to try anything new if we ask you to, but you might try it on your own if we just leave it on your tray. Mainly you just tell me, "I no like that!" to everything I want you to try (even things I know you'll like, like whipped cream and pot pie). Whatever. You love feeding your food to the dogs when we're not looking.

Your sleep is pretty good these days (KNOCK ON WOOD).  It's takes a hundred years to get through your bedtime routine and get you into your crib, but you go to sleep on your own (with your stingrays and under 6 blankets) and usually sleep through the night.  If you're sick, you might wake up once at night screaming for your daddy (and ONLY daddy with do).  Your bedtime routine includes a bath, feeding the dogs, feeding the fish, watching a movie, tippy-toeing upstairs, dance party on my bed, chasing the cat, reading 2 books, talking about your day, talking about tomorrow, talking about Christmas, singing a song, pressing your night-night button (a freckle on your buttcheek), putting you in bed, finding your stingrays (both the baby and the daddy), covering you up with at least three blankets, kissing you through the crib slats and then leaving the door cracked when I leave.  Then you scream for daddy, who has to come up and do it all over again with you.  You wake up sometime between 7:00 - 8:00 a.m., which is perfect.  It only took us 2.5 years to get here.  Hooray!  Yes, you are still sleeping in a crib and probably will be for at least another 2.5 years because (being completely honest here) I don't trust you for a second.  Luckily you haven't tried to climb out of your crib yet, but I'm sure that'll happen any day now.  Climbing is a specialty of yours.

You have discovered a newfound sense of defiance that gets you into trouble a couple dozen times a day.  Your new favorite word is "NOOOOOO!!!!" and when you don't get what you want, you've resorted to hitting, kicking and biting.  We are not impressed.  Actually, your dad and I are pretty dumbfounded and appalled at your behavior some days and have no idea what happened to our sweet little boy.  Time-outs just lead to more screaming and kind of break our hearts, but we're doing them. Discipline is not fun.  This past Sunday was probably the worst you've ever been - you pushed back on EVERY. LITTLE. THING. driving us insane!  We didn't know whether to put you to bed at 9:30 in the morning or just start drinking.  You must have even worn yourself out, because you ended up taking a 4+ hour nap that day.  And then you woke up in a great mood, as sweet as can be, telling me how much you missed me.  Ugh...toddlers are psycho.

You're still adjusting to having a baby sister and some days are definitely better than others.  You still get very jealous when your dad holds Mim, which sometimes turns into tantrums and emotional meltdowns.  Other times you totally try playing us and fake cry and want to be held, just so we won't hold her.  And so, the manipulation begins.  You still don't want much to do with Mim, although you do occasionally say that you like her and sometimes you even pet her like a dog.  Mainly you just ignore her or use her body as a track for your trains or cars.  I've had to ask you repeatedly not to drive cars on her face.

Another big adjustment you're getting use to is preschool!  You started a couple weeks ago and are doing well.  Granted due to snow and Thanksgiving, you've only really gone 2 days, but so far, so good.  You do cry a bit when I leave you (which breaks my heart) and during transitions, but I think this is going to be such a good move for you.  You really need something all your own and some time out of the house and with other kids your age.  You need to learn how to play with kids, how to share, how to listen to teachers and follow directions.  You need some time away from the baby, on your own.  I'm simultaneously so proud of you for being so big and brave and so sad that you're growing up so fast.  You still aren't real sure of school and you tell me that you like it, but you also get sad there sometimes.  You like the kids and the teachers, but you'd rather just play with the guinea pigs It's only 2 days a week, for 3 hours a day, but it feels like so much more to both of us.  I'm pretty sure I cried more than you did the first day.  It's a big step and I hope we're making the transition easy for you.  I'm not ready for you to grow up yet!  I'm sure within a few months we'll both feel better about it.

You absolutely love all animals and bugs.  You are quite amazing at catching them too (bugs, that is).  I don't know how you do it, but you catch crickets in the basement nearly every day.  A few days ago you caught a giant beetle down there and let him walk around on your arms with zero fear.  You carry your bugs around in your bug box and randomly take them out to do things with you, like ride your 4-wheeler or eat lunch.  You literally love them to death...and then you keep their little dead bodies for weeks (usually in the microwave of your play kitchen) until we throw them out (or the dog eats them).  You give every animal you meet (and all bugs) hugs.  Our cat Jigs might be your favorite thing in the world. You are pretty obsessed with her, and while the feeling is not mutual, you don't seem to mind.  The more she runs and hides, the more determined you are to love on her.  That poor cat.

You are also a really good helper, when you want to be, and I love that about you.  You're almost always willing to help out when we ask and you love being a part of whatever we're doing.  Of course, you usually insist on doing everything on your own, but you do love to help me and I try to let you as much as I can.  You help me do the dishes, bake, make dinner, change Mim's diaper, put away laundry, put clothes in the dryer, sweep, vacuum and give Mim baths.  You also love helping daddy rake leaves, shovel snow, pick up sticks, mow the grass, etc.  You're very sweet about it and I love the look of pride and happiness you get when we thank you for being a good helper.

This is such a trying age, as you challenge me in entirely new ways and I am constantly doubting my parenting abilities.  This makes the newborn baby/sleep deprivation phase feel like a cakewalk and I can only imagine that the challenges are going to get harder and harder as you get older.  I love this age because you are so wild and funny and curious, but it definitely has it's frustrations as well.  But whatever happens and whatever you do, I hope you know that at the end of the day, I'm so overwhelmingly crazy in love with you, proud of you and honored to be your mama.  You push my buttons and can drive me mad, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  Who wants a boring kid anyway!

Adorable things you do/say:

• You always say "Thank you SO much."

• About 16 times a day you ask me if you can have a treat for being a good listener.  Even if I just scolded you about not listening.  Apparently you weren't listening to that part.

• When we tell you that eating your vegetables will make you big and strong, you clench your fists and grit your teeth and flex your muscles.  It's hilarious. 

• The other day we were jumping on the bed and you were laughing so hard you snorted.  You stopped dead in your tracks and said, "Mama, there's a pig in my nose!"

• You say, "I got a snail" when you have a fingernail that needs to be trimmed.

• You ask to "play with the grills" (girls across the street). 

• You talk ALL. THE. TIME.  You never ever ever shut up.  You even talk in your sleep.  I've never met another child your age that talks as much and as well as you.  You tell stories, you ask questions, you talk to your babies and the dogs, you narrate everything you do.  You've started really understanding pronouns and use I/me/mine, you/your, his/hers all in the right context.  You're getting really good with conjugating verbs correctly, which sometimes blows me away (and makes me a little sad because it was so cute when you got them wrong).  

• Instead of "I love you," you say "I missed you."  

• A few weeks ago, you burped at the dinner table and I asked you what we say after a burp (prompting you to say "excuse me").  At the same time your papa said "there's something wrong in here," so now every single time you burp you say, "There's something wrong in here!"

• You love to list everyone in our house and all your things, whenever you have the chance.  For example, I was telling you that we were going to go on a carriage ride with your grandparents and you started listing everyone that you wanted to go: Mac, Mim, mommy, daddy, Jigsy, Sagey, Mally, fishes, Mr. Shuey, toys, stingrays, Grandma Linda, Clayton, Boo Boo, dump truck, Sugar, beetles, crickets, milk.  

• You're obsessed with chapstick.  After daddy telling you to stay away from his Chapstick a million times I finally gave you your own Chapstick, which was a horrible idea.  Now we have to hear, "This is MY Chapstick," 30 times a day.  You keep it in your own drawer and use it all over your face (on your eyes, up your nose, etc.).  You are always covered in strawberry flavored Chapstick...but at least you have very soft skin.

• You refuse to use the potty, but you LOVE to poop in my car.  Every night you ask to go out in the garage and sit in my car and poop.  It's hilarious.  And my car stinks.

• Occasionally you'll stop in the middle of playing and go into the office and tell me you need to check your email.  

• You're obsessed with the tape measure and have to measure everything (the countertop, the couch, Mim, the dogs, my leg, crickets, the TV, trucks, etc.).  Oddly enough, everything measures "two."  

• You are a master at hide and seek.  And by master, I mean you're terrible.  You pull a blanket out into the middle of the room, get under it and yell, "Mama, find me!" And then when I pretend to not be able to find you and ask where you are, you yell "I'm right here! I'm hiding!" You must think I'm a complete idiot. 

• Whenever you do something that you know you aren't supposed to do and you get away with it, you give me this ridiculous squinty smile and say, "I'm a stinkernoodle" (translation = stinker doodle).  Yes, you are.  

• Any time you see two of anything, the big one is the daddy and the little one is the baby.  Daddy and baby stingrays.  Daddy and baby tractors.  Daddy and baby chicken nuggets.  Daddy and baby ink pens.  Daddy and baby crickets.  Daddy and baby sippy cups.  There's never a mommy in the picture...

• You've told me there's a tiny little ghost that lives in your crib. He's not scary and he's only pretend. He's only scary in the book.  He's white and veeerrrry tiny.  

• You say "Adios Amigos!" any time anyone leaves.

Oh, Macaroni.  I love you so much.  Don't ever change. 

XOXO,
Your mama