1. The most common words out of Hen’s mouth these days are:  ”Back when I was a little boy…”  Anything more adorable/irritating than a 2.5 year old who thinks he’s all grown up?  Nah, didn’t think so.

2.  He’s started asking me what certain individual words say in his books, and then showing me when he sees that same word again.  My heart, my heart!–my kid is figuring out that those letters MEAN something important in his beloved books!  Of course, he’s also fascinated by clocks, thermometers, and my husband’s blood pressure cuff.  And so at any given time, Hen might tell me very seriously that it’s 6 o’clock degrees outside, or that he had a nice sleep–for 65 hours.  He’s starting to understand a lot of the world around him, but not as much as he thinks he does.

3.  I got my first dose of mommy-mimic/smart alec today.  ”What did I just tell you?” he demanded after I asked him to please repeat himself.  Oi.  Guess I need to work on not using that phrasing anymore when I get exasperated at having to repeat myself (usually when I’m telling him to stop doing something dangerous).  (And he needs to work on both his ‘leading Y’ sounds, and his smart mouth!)

4.  We’ve been working to keep Hen at the table with us (rather than gallivanting around the kitchen) after he’s done with his dinner but we’re still working on ours.  Only he gets irritated when he doesn’t know what we’re discussing, “What are we talking about?” he’ll ask, while flapping his hands to get our attention.  Fortunately, he really is interested in what we’re talking about–at least after we break it down and explain it to him.  And when the subject doesn’t interest him at all he’ll prompt us, asking, “Would you like to talk about something else?”

When we repeat the question back at him, “Would you like to talk about something else, Hen?”

“Oh yes, thanks!”  and off he runs with a conversational topic much dearer to his heart.  Like racing cars & their steering wheels.  Or maybe an observation about Tigger.  Or the dog.  Or his dinner. Or lighthouses.  Or that time when he was a little boy and ate blueberry muffins.  Or how good pickled ginger tastes.  Or whether Mattie-O Catty-O is as smelly-o as Nellie-o.  Because rhymes?  Silly rhymes? Best. thing. ever.  Or choosing words at random and pairing them with the word “Flying” apparently makes the funniest mind-pictures ever.  The hilarity that ensues if you offer up “Flying bookshelves?” really must be witnessed to be believed.

5.  Several weeks ago we told him that when you sit down to eat together, it’s nice to ask everyone how their day went, because dinner was a good time to talk about that.  He took that explanation of polite conversation very much more to heart than I ever expected and has run with it in true toddler fashion.  These days, I answer the question, “How was your day, Mommy?” at least fifteen times–though not always during dinner.  Often it’s the first thing out of his mouth at 5am when I’m changing his diaper and asking him to go back to bed for another hour–please!  And when I answer and then ask him how his day was, I’m relieved to report that his answer is–almost without fail–”My day is doing just fine, thanks.”

Two is really fun.  It’s a ton of work, but really so very much fun. Even at 5am.  Yawn.

(and does anyone have any ideas on how to re-set a toddler’s internal poop-clock?  I think he’s waking up because he poops, not the other way around, because the rare days he’s a touch constipated are also the days I get to sleep til almost 7.  And while I wouldn’t wish irregularity on anyone, I really wouldn’t mind changing that first poopy diaper at, say, 8am instead of 5am, you know?)  Yawn.