Mac - 2.75 Years

Dear Macaroni Bologna,

How do I even begin to put down in words just how amazing you are?  Everyone told me that 2 was a magical age that was both wonderful and horribly infuriating and they did not lie.  You are the most frustrating, endearing, exhausting, exhilarating, sweet, obnoxious, stubborn, lovable person I've ever met.  You may only be a few feet tall, but your personality is through the roof.  You have more attitude in your little finger than most grown-ups have in their whole body.  You are such a spitfire and 100% boy.  I refuse to believe that the next update I do on you will be THREE YEARS.  How can that be?!  

Every day you seem a little bit older and a little more mature, which is both heartbreaking and totally amazing.  You are no longer the frustrated and jealous little boy you were a few short months ago when your sister arrived.  You've learned how to control and express yourself so much better these days and (knock on wood) the tantrums are slowly dying down.  You use your words to express your feelings and it's incredible to see the difference that makes in your behavior and attitude.  Don't get me wrong, you still insist on doing things by yourself and must have exactly what you want at that exact minute, but somehow it seems to be getting better.  Most meltdowns these days seem to be over wanting to eat junk food or making you get dressed.  I am such a bad mom.

You are still a total daddy's boy, but I've found the more time we spend together one-on-one, the better our transitions are and the easier you are on us.  Sometimes I just have to put Mim down and focus on you completely for a minute and then you're totally fine.  We're learning how to do this whole "family of four" thing together and we're getting better at it every day.  I'm hoping that we'll soon be able to start doing more Mommy/Mac dates where we can get out of the house and have some time together.  You are such an amazing kid when you're getting ALL the attention - the acting out really only happens when we add more people and the focus isn't 100% on you (believe me, I understand).  You love mommy, but when you get hurt or when you first wake-up for the day, daddy's still the person you want the most.  Of course I wish it was me, but I love that you and your dad are so close and have such a great relationship.  You've got a pretty great dad. 

You are also becoming such a good big brother.  You are much more tolerant of Mim these days (although not completely) and don't mind her being around as much as you did a few months ago. You absolutely love to make her laugh, which is good because she is completely smitten with you and thinks you are the funniest being on earth.  You love getting right in her face and making her laugh. Any attention that you bestow upon her is like gold and she can't get enough.  You still get jealous very easily, so for now I make sure that I hug/kiss you first when I get home and I make sure that you and Mim take turns with things so you don't feel like you're getting passed over.  Getting in front of the jealousy before it happens seems to help a lot.

You started nursery school back in November and are doing great!  You say you don't like it, but I think you have a good time while you're there and you love to talk about what you do at school. Dropoffs are the hardest part.  You do great until we leave the room and then the tears start.  The first few times I dropped you off was absolute torture for me and I cried all day about it.  But every day gets a little bit easier for both of us.  Your crying stops by the time I get around the corner (I stop and listen outside your room), so I try not to worry about it too much.  Your teachers say you're doing great and that you always have fun.  Last week at dropoff, we were hanging up your coat and you said, "I'm not going to cry today, mama."  I told you that was great and praised you for being so big and brave.  As I handed you off to your teacher, your little lip was quivering and you wanted to cry so badly, but didn't.  I was so proud of you!  The crazy thing is, I think it was harder on me that you didn't cry - you are just growing up so fast.

School has fostered a newfound love of learning and questioning things.  You can sing your ABCs and identify most letters.  You can count and show me your numbers on your fingers.  You express your feelings so incredibly well, even your teachers have commented on your incredible verbal skills. You talk like a five-year old and have always been ahead of the curve on your vocabulary and grammar.  You are so inquisitive these days and ask me questions like "why?" and "how?" and "what's that mean?" all the time.  I thought we had another year or two before we got to the "why" phase, but I think it came early.  It's pretty amazing to watch your little brain work and make connections though.  You are such a smartie.  And you're nosy.  Any time you miss what the adults said or don't understand what we're talking about, you say "What'd you said?" over and over again until we stop and explain things you to.  It's both adorable and really obnoxious.

You love music, dancing and playing the guitar.  You have a small guitar (just like daddy's) and you like to sit on your little chair in the living room and play the guitar for anyone that comes over.  You say, "It's the Mac Show!" and begin playing and singing.  But before every song, you have to count it out and you say, "A one, a two, a four, a six."  It's the cutest thing I've ever seen.  You have music at school every Friday and you come home singing and dancing.  You love the "Ram Sam Sam" song at school and are getting really good at singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Every night before bed you insist on turning on the radio on my alarm clock and we have a mini dance party on the bed before heading to your room. Your dance moves consist of bouncing, twirling and jumping, with weird arm movements.  It's the best! 

The biggest change I've noticed over the last few months though is your independence.  You must do everything by yourself.  You love to dress yourself and are so proud when you get your clothes on without any help, even if they're backwards.  We just let you wear them backwards, since it doesn't hurt anything.  You can put on your own coat, snowpants, mittens, hat and boots too.  The only thing you can't do is zip up your coat.  It's pretty impressive to watch you get dressed.  You love helping and we try to give you chores that you can do to help out.  You are in charge of feeding the fish and dogs every night.  You also vacuum and wash windows.  You're very good at entertaining Mim while I change her diaper and you can let the dogs in and out of the house now.  You helped me shovel the snow off the driveway and you love watering the plants.  I try to let you do as much as I can and we're always looking for new things you can do to help out.  

Oh kiddo, I just love you so incredibly much. You are the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me.  I am so lucky and blessed to be your mom.  You keep me on my toes and make everything amazing.  Never change.

Love,

Your mama

Likes:

- chocolate

- dancing

- playing the guitar

- chicken burgers

- tea

- chapstick

- playing basketball

- chase

- Ram Sam Sam song

- brushing your teeth

- books

- daddy

- being outside

- sticker books

Dislikes:

- vegetables

- sharing 

- bears

- saying goodbye