Eddie: 32 months

I can't believe Eddie is 32 months old.  Where has the time gone?  We've always called him, "Big Man" or "Mister Man" but now those nicknames seem real instead of just endearing things to call a small, cherubic baby boy.  

As I've said before, he is quite the chatterbox.  He'll talk to anyone willing (or not) to listen and he narrates his activities throughout the day.  On our daily bike commute, I hear him singing songs to himself at top volume.

My friend Mariah once commented that parenting little kids is harder than parenting a needy newborn, in some ways, because they mentally wear you out more than physically wearing you out.  I completely agree.  Whereas before, I could just go about my usual business (shopping, cooking, computer work for school, gardening, etc.), albeit slower and more cumbersome-ly since I had to haul a child around in my arms...now I have to convince him  to go along with me.  I'm constantly explaining things to him, answering all the "why?" questions, and the like.  It really, really is exhausting sometimes.  My MIL thinks Eddie is more inquisitive and intelligent than other kids his age; sometimes I agree, but I also think she's just a doting Grammy who thinks the world of her grandkids.  She did raise four sons, one of whom was a very active, very intelligent boy.  Fortunately or unfortunately, she sees a lot of Uncle Michael in Eddie.  All I know is it means I'm gonna be a busy Mama finding activities/tasks to keep that mile-a-minute mind occupied.

Here are some notable things going on in Eddie's development:

• Circles: he has mastered the identification and drawing of circles (okay, they're a little wonky, but he's got the general shape down).  For the longest time he'd ask me to draw a triangle and then get upset when I didn't draw a circle.  Silly kid.

See how he kept the red inside the blue lines, there at the bottom?  Pretty impressive.

• "Let me show you somefing" is his newest phrase.  He says it all the time, both when he wants to show me something and when he wants to be pick him up so he can show something to me.  
• Monsters:  He's really into hiding and running from monsters.  From what I hear, he plays monsters with his friends Sethy and Isaac at school every day.  There are a few things you should know about Eddie's monsters: they are always blue, they always chase him, and sometimes they are "scary" and sometimes they just want to eat his imaginary cookies.
• Cooking: not only does he still insist on being very involved with whatever I'm cooking in the kitchen, but now he's able to entertain himself for quite a long time pretend-cooking.  He's nearly always making "chaw-chit" cake (chocolate cake) or cookies, which is fine by me!
• Poops in an empty room: I know we're getting close to trying cold-turkey potty training with him because he's suddenly become very private when he's about to poop.  He'll instruct anyone around him to "get out!" of the room so he can be alone.  That tells me he is definitely anticipating the urge to go and even has some control over when it happens since he does wait until we're gone to go.  We've had a package of big boy underpants waiting for him for a couple of months, but Dave and I have been waiting until he showed some interest or emotional development toward potty training.  All his gusto for using the potty last year is gone.  Now that warm weather is upon us, I think a cold turkey attempt, dealing with messes for a while, and "Donald Ducking it" (shirt but naked tush) is going to happen in the next couple of months.  
• Dishwasher: This kid loves anything having to do with water.  And that includes washing dishes.  At our house, I make sure to re-wash whatever he's washed and put into the drying rack because I know he's not actually "washing" things by my standards.  But at Grammy's house, his help is appreciated since she's washes the dishes by hand and then loads them into the dishwasher.  His level of "washing" is suitable to her since she'll just wash them again in the machine.  He did a whole sink full of lunch dishes when we were up there last weekend, handing her each one when he was done.  

• Sleeps on top bunk: He's had a bunk bed for a few months now and really likes it.  He started sleeping on the bottom bunk because we didn't have all the parts for the stairs (some pieces were broken and had to be shipped out to us again).  Once those stairs were installed, though, he started sleeping on top.  We chuckle that his sleeping head is next to the sticker that warns: "Never allow children younger than 6 years of age to sleep on the top bunk."  He is kept company all night by 4 blankets, two pillows, about a zillion books, his flip-flops, an outgrown stray Thomas boot (no idea where the mate is), and an assortment of train/car toys and stuffed animals.  He doesn't seem to play with these things before bed, only in the mornings when he wakes up long before I go in to get him. I remember sleeping with tons of stuffed animals in my bed as a kid, too, and usually had a book or two stuck under my pillow for easy-access reading before falling asleep.  Maybe he gets the bed-hoarding from me?
• Somersaults and other acrobatic endeavors: Eddie's at that age where he's discovering all the things he can do with his body beyond just running really, really fast (seriously, this kid is really fast...when he runs away from me at the store, I have to break into a jog to catch up to him).  Randomly throughout the day he'll stop what normal thing he's doing to do a somersault or a weird yoga-like move.  Dave reports that he can now do a somersault down the ramp at gymnastics, with just a little spotting.  

"Mama, look what I can do!"