A Portrait of the Artists at 2.5 Years

Official well visit weigh-in stats:

Linus - 26 lbs. 6 oz.
Veda - 21 lbs. 13 oz.

I think the nurse messed up their height check because they were both shorter than the last time they went to the pediatrician. No matter. Our home stats:

Linus - 35.75"
Veda - 33.25"

Veda will be headed to another pediatric gastroenterologist next week to get a second opinion about some ongoing GI issues. Wish us luck.

And now... the good stuff...

This age is my favorite so far. You guys can carry on conversations. You answer questions. You have clear preferences.

Linus, it's pretty remarkable how affectionate and loving you are. You're so free with giving me hugs and kisses. It's going to be a very, very sad day when you decide that you're too big to love on your mommy. One of your favorite games right now is the go to sleep game. It entails you telling me to lie down in bed and go to sleep. (Don't mind if I do!) Then you snuggle into me and let me cuddle with you. It just doesn't get any better. Well, for the 45 seconds you're actually still.

Your vocabulary is so impressive. You're not just speaking in full sentences, you're using words like presentation and camouflage. You've been pretending to read out of grown-up books lately, as well as inspecting the text of things like receipts and junk mail. You recognize lots of letters and are pretty good at counting objects. Colors, though? Neither of you can recognize a single color, which is sort of driving me nuts. But we'll get there... we will. And surely both of you can't be colorblind.

You are currently obsessed with all things that go. You're usually carrying around at least one matchbox car, and you pretend that nearly everything in our house is a rocket ship. Every day you request to watch the Cars movie... multiple times over. It's also pretty funny to hear you randomly shouting "Ka-chow! or "Axlerod!" (as in Sir Miles Axlerod).



Veda, you have become so, so independent. Whether it's getting out of your car seat, using the potty, or getting into the bath tub, you insist on doing it on your own. ("Myself!") You've also started requesting time to yourself every now and then and sometimes say that you don't want Brother in what you believe to be your room. Sorry, kiddo, but until we move, you guys have to share. You've developed a little bit of a bossy streak, too. I love singing to you, but you've started declaring, "No song!" pretty often. Even funnier is when you tell me, "Don't say that." Just the other day I was reciting a line from Seinfeld - "Elaine and Suzy! Suzy and Elaine!" - and sounding like a teeny little exasperated teenager, you said, "Don't say that."

You've become the big arts and crafts enthusiast around here. Stickers, watercolor paints, chalk, crayons, markers, drawing, playdoh, cutting with your new scissors - you love it all, and it's not uncommon for you to wander into my bedroom in the morning requesting that I get out some paint or glue for you. You're pretty good at recognizing letters, and you are starting to enjoy counting objects (though you refuse to believe in the existence of the number four), but right now honing your fine motor skills is your big thing. It's pretty amazing to watch you so focused on learning to use scissors or trying to stay in the lines in your coloring book.

As much as you like dressing like a girly-girl, you have almost no interest whatsoever in dolls. You still request Thomas the Train books, and Cars is currently your favorite movie. Blocks, Legos, and balls are among your favorite toys right now. Helping me is one of your favorite pastimes, and you get so excited about cooking.

I've always had this feeling with you that you're something of an "old soul". Sure, you're a toddler, but everyone notices that you're very mature for your age. I'm sure this will sound kind of nuts, but I really do feel that there's a little adult in there who understands way more than the average two year old.


I love you, my little bunnies.

Things You Did Today 7/11/12

As we were pulling out of the driveway today, it was raining. Linus waved out the window and said, "Bye, flowers! Drink enough coffee!" Because, you know... coffee rains from the sky. I love my little coffee man.

Both kids marched into the living room today and declared, "We're twins!". I've told them that they're twins maybe three times ever, and today wasn't one of those times. Wonder where that revelation came from...

The Day You Turned 2 1/2

“Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?--every, every minute?”
― Thornton Wilder, Our Town

The one big thing that happened today that there won't be pictures of is potty training. Mr. Linus, you totally nailed it today. I won't get into the specifics because I don't want to embarrass you (more), but you did better on day one than any potty rookie I know of. I'm so, so, so proud of you.


First things first, watching some morning cartoons right after you woke up. Today you asked to watch Cars 2... AGAIN. So we did. Right before this picture, you ate your cereal bars. You guys love those things - Kashi Ripe Strawberry. I buy two boxes every week at the grocery store, and sometimes we still run out.

While I was making breakfast, Linus managed to find a stray crayon and created this wall art in the play room.

Secret: part of me enjoys seeing crayon marks on our walls. It's a sure sign that I'm a mom. But, I still marched you to the closet to get the magic eraser. Here you are scrubbing it off the wall. Logical consequences, folks. 

 For breakfast? Oatmeal with strawberries, your favorite. Lately you've been requesting a layer of cold milk on top.

Just in case you're thinking that looks like a lot of oatmeal for such little people, yeah, it is. But you both cleaned your bowls out. Veda needed a little motivation from Linus, who was on the prowl for her oatmeal, but she ate every bit of hers.

After breakfast was tooth brushing. I always do a more thorough brushing once you've finished, but you two really enjoy practicing first. 

Next up, some chores. While I did stuff like clean off the table from breakfast, put in a load of laundry, and put toys away, you guys ran around like little wild people, intermittently helping.

Daddy had the day off thanks to the 4th of July holiday, so you guys climbed into our bed and talked to him for a while.

Next up, it was time to do the official unofficial height check for the growth charts. (The official official height comes from the pediatrician.) Veda, you were pretty compliant. And 33" tall. Linus ran away. We'll get to him later.

A big part of every day at home is little Mimi. You chase her, you pet her - gently and... not gently, you like to drive your cars over her, and you sometimes even throw the occasional object at her before I can get to you. Poor little Mimi. She really does like the chasing, though.

Time for playing...

Arts and Crafts Time. Today was the first day that we worked in your Kumon books. You wanted to do the coloring and stickers/pasting ones.

The directions on this page were to color ketchup on the omelet (??? I think it said omelet? Who eats ketchup on an omelet???). Anyway, you did. We talked about colors and what color we should use for the ketchup. Linus also colored some ketchup on the little man's face. Makes sense, since you two usually end up wearing a little on your faces, too. Then he wanted me to get a paper towel to clean up the man's face. Sorry, dude. Crayons don't work that way.

Our finished products. Veda's work is on the left, and Linus's is on the right. We decided to be fancy and add a little glitter glue.

More playing...

Snack time! Veda chose graham crackers, and Linus went with a Kashi cookie. Normally I really do bake the cookies for you, but it's been in the 100's lately. Not turning on the oven. Nope.

And then something unusual happened - a Veda on Linus attack. I suspect that Veda may have been a little jealous of all of the attention Linus was getting for using the potty. Look at this pitiful little face. Time out for Veda.

Veda, you are super sensitive to being corrected. When I came in to talk to you post time-out, your little lip quivered as we talked about how we shouldn't hurt brother because we love brother. Then you told me you wanted to have some time by yourself. I get it, girl. You set yourself up with some books and enjoyed a little reading alone time.

Linus was ready to be measured for his growth chart. Today's measurement was a bigger deal than normal since allegedly you double a little boy's height a 2.5 to know how tall he'll ultimately be. You were almost 36" tall, so maybe you'll be about 6' tall. We'll see.

With Veda reading alone in your room, Linus and I cozied up in a chair and read a stack of books together. But not this whole stack.

Lunch time! Today's lunch was a pasta salad with peas, lactose-free cheese, and turkey along with a generous serving of applesauce. 

After changing into diapers and reading a book (Fancy Nancy), it was nap time. I took a gamble and snuck back in to take photos of you guys sleeping. 

But then Veda started stirring. Escape! Escape! Phew, nap time disaster narrowly avoided.

While you guys slept, I set out to work on laundry and clean up the living room and kitchen.

Your nap was blessedly long today, so I also had time to break some beans for dinner.

Turns out the nap wasn't quite as long as I thought, though. Here's what you two did to your room before you came out.

While I made dinner, you watched some music videos with Daddy.

Dinner was mashed potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob, and fried okra. Veda found a pair of tongs and decided to try eating her mashed potatoes with them.

Bath time! Before the bath, the two of you are responsible for putting your clothes in the hamper. Veda usually does it enthusiastically. Linus's interest level in chores is highly dependent on how tired he is.

Linus, you are so, so handsome.

Veda loves it when I wrap her up in her towel after the bath. She always admires herself in the mirror. With good reason - look at that cute little ladybug!

Lionus.

All finished up with the bath routine, it's time for bedtime stories. We usually cuddle up in the rocker in the nursery, but tonight you wanted to read in our bed. We read Fox in Socks.



Good night, my sweet, sweet little man.

And my precious little pudding pop.

Then I turned out the light and made sure the night light was projecting the planets and stars on the ceiling and signed goodnight and "I love you" as I backed out of the room.

Then it was time for me to clean up the kitchen, pick up toys, sneak in about 10 minutes of exercise, and take my own bath.

And finally it was time for this.

 

I can't wait to see you tomorrow.