He Survived

It dawned on me yesterday that Jared has officially reached and surpassed the two and a half year mark in his life.  And, well, he's alive to live another day.  It astounds me how fast time goes by.  It seems like not too long ago that I took his small 5 pound body and cuddled with him for hours at a time.  He would rely on me for his every need (except some of the diapers that his Daddy would help with).  Now, I am lucky if I get a couple minutes of cuddle time when he is really tired, and he really doesn't NEED me much anymore.  The joys of raising children, I guess.

Here is a little bit of what I have learned recently:

*  If any milk, juice, bath water, is consumed anytime after 2 hours before bed, I have a huge wet mess to clean up in the morning.
*  Potty training has to be on his time schedule, no matter how much I want him to use the big boy potty, it is not something I can physically force him to do.
*  Just about anything can be squished, crushed, or otherwise impounded into carpet.
*  If I don't get him water, milk, or juice exactly when he is ready for it, he will simply go into the kitchen, open the refrigerator, grab whatever liquid he wishes to partake of, and sit down on the tile and begin to consume said liquid out of it's original container.
*  He allows me to dress him in the morning, as it is part of our routine, however, if I have the audacity to pick something that was not what he wanted to wear, the contents of his clothes cabinet will end up all over the floor until he find the shirt/shorts that he wishes to wear that day.
*  He has learned to use the TV remote with some accuracy.  However, he still hasn't figured out how to use the buttons for his DVR shows.  Which leads to Glenn Beck coming on right in the middle of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because he pushed the wrong button.
*  Just because he is all manners of horrible at my house, trying to push every boundary, does not mean he is the same way when he is visiting someone else.  I get more "he is so good!" comments from people, that I have to look over my shoulder to make sure they aren't talking about some other little boy.
*  He bounces, A LOT.  Sometimes on his knees, sometimes on his elbows, sometimes on his head.  He has yet to need to be rushed to the ER for any broken bones, thank God!
*  We sit down to eat dinner as a family every night, and sometimes, we may forget to say grace first, this can cause my two year old to be unhappy until grace has been said.  He needs his moment to shout "AAAAMEN!"  Then we can eat in peace.
*  Pennies in the CD drive of our Mac Desktop can cause problems.
*  As long as he doesn't know he is learning, he will learn all of his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors.  As soon as he figures out that he learning something, then he quickly looks disgusted and finds something else to do.
*  Puzzles + 2 year old = puzzle pieces EVERYWHERE
*  I think it is important to make sure that Jared knows how to be respectful to people at all times.  He has started to not say "good-bye" to people he likes because he thinks that if he doesn't, they won't leave.  It has been a struggle, but after a couple times of naughty rug tantrums, he says good bye to everything, even the trash cans in our neighborhood.
*  It is important to make sure the lid gets flipped back over on ALL trashcans.  Jared believes this is his personal job on every trash day.
*  I can still get kisses from him if I promise him something in return.  I'm okay with that.  I need his kisses.
*  When I say "I love you" to him, his response is almost always "okay", I have figured out that this must mean "I love you too, Mommy".
*  He can look around a room and figure out which pushover person in the room will give him the most attention.  He then won't leave them alone for the rest of the day/night.
*  He picks up all the words we say now.  I have to be SO careful what comes out of my mouth. 

I am sure there is more, but these are the ones I can think of at the moment.  Stay tuned for the next installment of "Jared has survived another 6 months"