Never Dunn Dreaming: TWO

Bodey Frank-the baby of the family, the glue to our crazy, the sweetest little soul...you are TWO!

You turning two wasn't as hard for me as I thought it'd be. You have turned into such a toddler, with your own personality, and you have seemed 2 for months now! You are such a smart little boy, and you listen and follow directions SO well at this age. Keep it up! :) You have started in with a little of the "no" and the "no want to, with a little fit every now and then, but nothing is comparison to what you could be doing. And you mostly learn any defiant behavior from your big bro, ha!

You are definitely an observer. I remember being worried about you before you turned 1 that you really weren't talking much at all. You were just SO quiet in comparison to your big bro. We always said, as we'd see you just standing there quietly, that you were watching us and taking it all in until one day you'd just talk up a storm and tell us how it is. And that''s exactly what you do! You talk so much now, nonstop. But you still have the quietest and sweetest (low pitched) voice, and don't really ever get too loud or harsh. Your biggest sound is roaring like a dino which is pretty much the cutest thing ever. It seems as if you observe everything, think about it, and then take a very thought-through and deliberate action. You are passionate and know what you want, but you can be talked to through it if we need to redirect you. You are putting together multiple words for a sentence, I think max has been 4 word sentences

You have truly been our "easy" kid. Everyone has one, right? Barrett brings the life and you bring the peace. Just so go with the flow from the very beginning, and you continue to be that way. You eat well, sleep well. listen well, snuggle well. Your hugs are THE BEST! I've joked that you are making sure we don't have any more kids by giving us abundant world class cuddles and love. Lol. You will drop whatever you are doing if we ask for a hug and you'll give them over and over if we keep asking for one more. You say "I love you too" right back, "sorry" quietly right away whenever you bump into us or anything that may have hurt someone, "thank you" and "please", "bless you" if someone sneezes, "oh my gosh", "alright", you call for Jax with a super low pitched "Jackson COME", and of course your most used word: "NACK" (snack). If we call for you, you answer with "yeah?" or "what". It's hilarious. If you need our attention, but we aren't listening you HOLLER our name once "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy.....MOM!" You now say Barrett's name pretty much perfectly, but for the longest time you'd say "Bare-dit" for Barrett (which I now find myself calling him that lol).

You just love food and always have. You are slightly pickier than Barrett was/is, but you still do pretty well. You definitely love your snacks and could live off of them. But when it's time for a meal, you are definitely up for that too. Your favorite vegetable (and one of the only ones you actually eat) is steamed broccoli. I can get you to eat green beans sometimes and maybe corn, potatoes, and lots of veggies if I put them in a soup you like. Otherwise, I hide veggies in some of our meals to be sure everyone is getting what they need! You love almost all fruits and want them all the time, especially clementines and berries (although you recently decided you were over blueberries for some reason). You love applesauce, veggie straws, bars, cottage cheese/yogurt, and crackers. Your favorite meal is probably my meatloaf, but you also love soups, tacos, and any meat.

You are getting good at standing your ground and are very vocal if Barrett is making you upset ("NO!" or crying). On the other hand, Barrett is your guy. If he's not with you, you are calling for him ("Oh Barrett!") or looking for him. You have started having to take timeouts, mostly for hitting Barrett (usually provoked, other than the time he randomly got a wooden spoon from the counter and walked up and bopped Barrett right over the head with it)

You go to bed around 8/830 pm and usually wake between 6:15 and 7 am, I try to make you go back to sleep until 7 am, but usually doesn't work. Time change happened though and now you sleep until 7 just fine! lol. You take one solid nap every day, usually for 1.5-2 hours, but will randomly do a 3 hours nap. We took your paci away around 20 months or so, and you did great. Still in your crib, which is still on the highest level (second child problems). You can climb in, but haven't tried to climb out yet. You've been peeing on the potty before your baths since about 18/19 months, and you've even pooped on the potty a couple times! We've thought about potty training you, but I'm not quite sure if we or you are ready yet.

You LOVE Moana and Little Baby Bum. You are also OBSESSED with BOOKS! One in particular..."Giraffe in the Bath and Other Tales" (or "giraffe baff" as you call it! It's a collection volume of 6 phonic readers and you request to read it every single night and also throughout the day. I didn't leave for vacation without it!), but also all the sound books and any story book. You know the words to a TON of songs, and walk around the house just singing. Your current fav, that you request over and over at bedtime rocking is "Frere Jacques". You can jump with both feet, count to 20 (!!), don't have a clue about your colors yet (you will sometimes point one out or know if something is that color, but if we ever ask you what color you don't ever get it right...we are starting to wonder if he's color blind! lol), and are a rockstar at your Montessori school with Barrett! You are officially the youngest one they've had, but you are doing FABULOUS! You are so smart and independent and love researching your environment, I'm not surprised you love it.