(Another that is backdated and posted for posterity. I'm guessing it wasn't exactly written on Aaron's 2.5 birthday, but I've posted it to that date, just to keep everything in order.)
Aaron is two and a half.
Again, I say...How? When? I'm so confused.
We've been going back through a ton of pictures and videos from when Aaron was Sam's age as we are remembering all of the fun milestones and experiences. Which makes it even more surreal that Aaron is now closer to THREE than he is to TWO. And everyone knows, two year olds are still babies. Three year olds are little boys. No, thank you, I'll keep my baby, if it's all the same to you.
But alas, he must grow. Even if I drag my heels, kicking and screaming, he will still grow. And he is. He's been moving in leaps and bounds over the past six months.
Some highlights:
1. Full, creative, independent-though sentences. He thinks 'em. Then he says 'em. Then (most of the time) we understand 'em. Crazy. People, he is thinking his own thoughts! Making connections, drawing conclusions, asserting opinions (overrated). He's a PERSON. Kind of all of a sudden. It's amazing to watch. (And incredibly frustrating...see above mention of asserting opinions. Still overrated.)
2. He's a smart cookie. He's been obsessed with letters since about 15 months (as previously well-documented) and so it's only logical that he's obsession would lead to spelling words, spelling sentences, learning to write and learning to read. He's memorized a LOT of words, including all the basics like CAT, DOG, BALL and some of the harder, random ones like MONSTER TRUCK (thanks Isaac). For about two months around the birth of Sam, I almost went insane answering his constant question "What we gonna spell next Mommy?" He wanted to spell all day, every day. All day, every day. Have I conveyed that to you yet? ALL.DAY.EVERY.DAY. Thankfully, as he started to branch out into some other toys (puzzles!) the intensity of the spelling has lessened, but boy, were those some rough weeks. So he spells, he sounds out words and he's tentatively starting to read some of his Dr. Seuss and Curious George books.
3. He's a techie. He had developed a pretty deep love for my mom (Tutu)'s iPad since she got it last summer. So, we decided to get him an iPod Touch for Christmas, which is basically just a tinier iPad. He's got a bunch of cool apps that help him write his letters, spell words and read books. He can also watch some seriously sweet old school Sesame Street songs on there. Capital I is a perennial favorite.
4. He's a big brother. Um, duh. But I mean it more in the sense that he's really embraced being a big brother. He loves Baby Sam. A lot. Probably more than Sam is comfortable with, just now. He always wants to know where Sam is, what he's doing, what he's thinking. He wakes up from his naps and says "Let's go see Baby Sam". He gives kisses, hugs and the occasional forceful poke. We're trying to walk the very fine line of allowing him full access to Sam, in the hopes of fueling his sibling-love fest and trying to protect Sam from bodily injury and annoyances. I've said it before, but we weren't too optimistic about Aaron's capabilities as a big brother but he has, once again, proved us wrong for underestimating him. He's a better big brother than I could have imagined or hoped for. Minus the screaming...
5. Speaking of screaming, he's quickly nudging over the line between delightful toddler and THE TERRIBLE TWO's. I don't really like that term, since a) he's not terrible and b) I hear it's not just the twos that can be "terrible" (hold me) but you know what I mean. He's realizing that he can make decisions for himself, he's completely lacking any kind of self control and he's stubborn. So we have moments each day, some days more than others, of hmmm...less than delightful behavior.
(And there it ended, abruptly. I'm laughing at myself, because my current recollection is that Aaron was, by comparison, a DELIGHTFUL two year old. Three got harder. Four was harder than three. Five has been the hardest so far, which I now know, means that while I'm laughing at the mama of this two year old, the mama of the fifteen year old will be laughing at current me. None of it seems as hard in retrospect. I'm still working on the meaning of life...stay tuned.)
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