To Ty-Ty, our sweet two year old

To my sweet two year old (a month after your birthday).

PEEK-A-BOO!

If I had to guess your favorite color, it would be blue. That's what you say every time we ask you what color something is. If everything in the world were blue, I think you'd be happy.

You love Mickey, but you'd happily watch almost any cartoon or animated movie. You like Franklin a lot too.

You are into "things that go" - cars, planes, trains, fire trucks, helicopters, diggers, motorcycles, buses. You hear sirens from a mile away and tell us "wee-oo-wee-oo." Just like big brother, you are a big sports fan and are getting pretty good at basketball and baseball. We're so impressed by both of you!

You also love all animals - farm animals, zoo animals, pets, even bugs. You want to pet every cat and dog you see, and you do a really great job at being nice to them. You know all your animal sounds too. One of your favorites is hee-haw for the donkey, which you were really excited to hear in person last week at Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jansen's house.

Your favorite foods are cheese, blueberries, strawberries, meat, and rice. We're glad to have a meat-eater this time around! You are a big fan of salsa and guacamole - yum! You actually will eat just about anything. We're lucky, and we hope you keep it up.

It's so fun to hear you say new words every day. A few months ago you called Lucas "Yoos" and now it is "Yoo-cas." You enjoy yelling at him when he trails too far behind us or isn't doing what he is told. You call yourself Ty-Ty which is so cute, although I'm sure you'll never admit it when you're ten. Most recently you finally turned Grandma into a two syllable, somewhat recognizable word. We don't know why that one took so long when you are speaking so well!

You also really enjoy singing and have all the words memorized in Animal Serenade, a book from your last semester of Kindermusik. You also like to sing "You Are My Sunshine," which is usually the last song we sing before nap and bed.

Your ABCs and 123s are coming along too. They are kind of garbled sounding, but most of your letters are there. We recently learned you can count to 13 and we had never even asked you to count before!

You are very good at feeding yourself, and you can take your shoes and pants off by yourself. You like going on your little potty chair, but so far you are not telling us when you need to go. You have mastered the iPad though! You also know how to do the Sign of the Cross (sort of), and you love singing Alleluia in church. You even try to genuflect when we enter and leave the pew - so cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Your personality is developing every day, and I love every bit of it. You are a little bit adventurous, but you also look for our guidance when you need to. You really love playing with other kids. Even though you are "all boy" when you roughhouse with Lucas, get dirty in the yard, and play with all your trucks and balls, you are still my sweet baby boy at the end of the day. You give the best hugs and say "I love you" in your precious little voice. With a big brother around, sometimes it seems like you are growing up way too fast. You can only keep up with him for so long, though, and then you remind us that you are still a little boy who needs our help and love and attention. I love you so much and will happily let you be my baby boy for as long as you'll let me!

I love you, Ty-Ty!

Mommy