Life with The Snyders: Haddon James: Two and a Half Years Old

You have changed so much in the past 6 months.

I've said it before and it's still true: this might be my all time favorite age! I wish I could just follow you around with a video camera and record everything you say and do. It's all just so cute! I wish I could just bottle it all up and never forget.

You are talking so much!

When you first turned two, you would repeatedly ask "What you do-nen?" (rhymes with den)

(What are you doing?)

You'd tell us "no no" as you shook your finger at us.

Instead of saying I told you, you say "I said you..."

The holidays were a lot of fun! You made a cute little puppy at Halloween.

We had a great time at the fair. You loved that you're big enough to ride rides now.

You loved blow ups at Christmas and you called all Christmas decorations "Christmas!"

Every Christmas present you opened, you'd say "oh boy!"

You had fun at Grey Stone's Celebration of Lights.

We enjoyed the snow, but you didn't love wearing a jacket. And then you really didn't love being cold. So you didn't last long unless I had you in the stroller.

Your favorite song for a while was Old McDonald Had a Farm. You can ask for that now, but it started as you asking for "EO."

You still say "my" for me:

Put my down!

When my wake up...

This what my want!

I'm am!

You always want to know the plan. "When my wake up..." then you'd fill in the blank with what you thought would happen when you woke up.

You say "her" for your:

I sit in her lap?

Move her hair.

You decided you didn't like your room completely dark a couple of months ago. You started asking us to turn the night light on your sound machine on and crack your door and you wouldn't let Mema zip your tent anymore. I thought it was just a fluke so on the second night of this new routine, I went in and turned your light off. You woke up in the middle of the night crying that it was dark. So you've slept with the light on your sound machine on every night since.

You also out grew your sleep sacks despite me buying the biggest ones I could find on Amazon. So you also call out multiple times a night for us to come put your blanket back on. And just in the past three weeks, you've discovered you can climb out of your crib. You stay in well at night, but love to climb out first thing in the morning. You are so proud of yourself when you do it! I'm shocked you are the only of the three that learned you could do this and that you were 2.5 before you figured it out.

We went through a short sleep regression where you were waking up super early. I wondered if you were getting ready to drop your nap, but then one day I let you skip nap and the late afternoon was a struggle. So we're holding on to nap time a little longer!

Since you want your door cracked now, I can't resist coming in and seeing you sleep.

I still have the basket of burp cloths in your room. When you have a cold, I use them to wipe your nose at night. You call them your washcloth and have started sleeping with them.

Late February or early March you got a little virus. You ran a fever and felt pretty crummy for a few days. I thought the flu was about to take us all down, but after a day or so, you bounced back and the rest of us stayed well.

Sadly, you are hit or miss with wanting to rock these days and most days choosing to just get in bed.

"I ready get in my bed."

Your favorite foods are Toasters (toaster struddles), Oranges, Breakfast Casserole, and Cheeseburgers from McDonalds. You won't turn down something sweet either!

You like to sit at the baby table like a big boy. I think we are officially done with the high chair!

You have discovered the bathroom sink and are quite the climber.

Sometimes you'll say "how dare you?" when something upsets you.

When you're wondering where your sisters are, you'll say "where my girls?"

You LOVE your rain boots and wear them everyday. I make you wear tennis shoes to church on Sunday, but not without a battle!

You love to be outside!

You've learned to ride down the hill in front of the house on your bike. It's both adorable and terrifying. You have no fear!

At the beginning of March you started staying with Petal (Tori) full time. You weren't happy at first, often telling me you were going to Mema's house, but once you're there, you have a great time!