i took a shower while mo got ready

so today, for the first time ever, I hopped in the shower and put moses's outfit for the day out in his room. moses managed to take his pajamas off and put them in the hamper, take off his pull-up and put it in the trash, go to the potty, and put on his outfit correctly, all without much prompting from me at all, and certainly no hands-on help. he was done before I was dressed! all I had to do with brush his teeth. he even put his shoes on the right feet. oh my.

he's only two. this is advanced, isn't it?

also, as we were walking out, we passed by some dry oatmeal that had spilled on the ground outside our door, and moses said, "that's for birds to eat." I said, "oh, that looks like bird food?" and he said, "no, it IS food for birds!"

I just realized this morning that he knows that "looks like" means "it isn't actually."

also, he seriously knows everyone's name at daycare. like everyone. there has got to be like 75+ people there. he impresses me everyday.

He understands what I'm saying

I know I shouldn't probably be surprised, because our little boy does understand a lot, but I am still surprised.

The other day, I was trying to gather up some of Mo's little matchbox cars/trucks on a windowsill by the door so that I could carry them back to his car seat in the van (it gives him something to do during our commute). We had kept these cars/trucks from Donna there since Easter, but somehow they had all found their way into the house.

As I put them up there, Mosey quietly followed my lead, and put a fleet of matchbox cars/trucks up on that windowsill. So, eventually, I told him, "Hey buddy, you know, I'm just putting the ones that Donna gave you up there, so that we can remember to put them back in your car seat when we go out to the van. The rest of them, you can put back in your toy box, they don't have to be up here."

Over the next few minutes, he carefully and dutifully proceeded to transport all the non-Donna vehicles back into his room, in his car box. Then he put all the Donna cars/trucks together, and told me, "Mommy, I'm putting Donna cars together."

The next time we were getting ready to leave (the next day!), he put on his own shoes, climbed up to the windowsill, grabbed two vehicles in each hand, and told me, "Mommy, I got my cars and trucks. I'm ready!"

I was/am so proud, I could cry! This kid.

He's suddenly a boy, no longer a baby/toddler

So, Moses started saying the phrase that only boys say, always with a smile: "watch this!"

I don't know where he picked it up, but yes. Babyhood seems officially over with that phrase. He'll always be my sweet baby, though. ;)

I can't remember if I told you about transitioning to the big boy bed, but the last week or two have brought about very  late bedtimes because of many potty trips. I'm never really sure if the potty breaks are bogus, but he pees every time, so I'm inclined to just believe him, especially if we ever want him to be truly out of those expensive pull-ups someday. Today, he went to bed at 7:30, but fell asleep around 8:45. :/ always surprising, though, because he is the one that tells us he's tired. Oh well. I'm sure it'll all work out soon. We just need to means those little visits from Moses as minimally entertaining/rewarding as possible. 

We went to church today, and mo's teacher told us that he's getting quite a reputation. Apparently, the worship band leaders told a newer band member that Moses was the one to watch. I guess he's quite the singer/dancer! I'm just so proud of that little guy. 

our son is awesome sauce

i'm so proud of our little buddy. i know all parents think their kids are advanced, but seriously, he's the only one in his class that really understood Ms. Hafizah's lesson on wild animals versus pets. she told me about the next day because it really was so exciting! all the other kids in the class couldn't stop saying what the animals on each card was, while moses was the only one saying what category they each were in. what!? he's so smart. also, she mentioned that pets are animals that we have to take care of, feed, and bathe. so when he got to the picture of a goldfish, he said, "pet!" and then he said, "no, this is not a pet!" and when she asked him about his answer, he said, "fish is in the water, so they don't need a bath." what?? he's so right!! oh, i love the way his bright little mind works. it makes my heart so full.

i've also been meaning to tell you that we finally moved mo to a big boy bed (at 2 years and 9 months!). it was way past due, since really, moses has been sleeping on a cot at daycare since he was 15 months old. ha. but you know, we had no troubles with him in his crib this whole time. i was just getting tired of lifting him up over the crib rail with my belly getting bigger, honestly. we bought a toddler bed at ikea, and he's adjusted alright. i think he really likes it, but he does kind of talk to himself and play around in the bed a little more before he falls asleep. he hasn't gotten out of bed to play with his toys, but he has come out a few times to tell me, "mommy, i pee pee'ed in my bed. i'm wearing a diaper, it's okay." which is why i went and bought some overnight pull-ups, which i'm hoping will help him go potty while he's still awake. *shrug*

the other day, on one of mo's late nights, we heard him playing with the door stop in his room. this was a first, and so shane went right in there, and asked moses what he was doing. and moses answered honestly. shane asked him what he was supposed to be doing, and mo answered, "i'm 'posed to be sleeping in my bed." after a few back-and-forth questions and responses, moses came to the conclusion himself that he was going to do the right thing and go to bed. it was really sweet! he really is such a delightful kid to be around.

shane told me a funny story that happened today about going potty. when we go out in public, we lift up and hold little mosey over the toilet, and he pees in the toilet, sort of hovering. well, after shane helped mo pee, shane started to go himself, and mo said to him, "i don't have to lift you up, daddy?" haha... the image of our child trying to lift up daddy to help him pee is so precious.

one of my grandmother's stories about me when i was really young was that i would beg to wash dishes, but of course, she wouldn't let me because i was too little. when she was doing something else, i would push a chair over to the sink and re-wash clean dishes because i wanted to do it so badly. well, moses is following in my footsteps, for sure. when he finished his cup of water after snack, he climbed up to the kitchen sink, washed his little cup, and put it in the drying rack, all by himself with no instruction, motivation, or supervision from me! cutie!

we went out for donuts as a family, and moses ate all the fresh fruit in the middle of his and left most of the donut. a couple of days later, i made smoothies for all of us, and he drank only half of his. then he finished his carrots and told me he was done. :) love that little man.

he knows what songs are on the passion (take it all) CD that we listen to on repeat in the car. he has his favorites, and when they come on, he consistently says, "mommy, i need that loud." yesterday, he even had me scan through the songs to find the one he wanted to hear. i think it was track 14.

how'd we get so lucky.

Go big or go home

Mo has had, oh... I think two pee pee accidents in the past however long he's been potty trained. Well, last night, he had the accident that made up for lost time! We were outside of a restaurant after dinner and our little family was with nana, aunt Erin, uncle Matt, and six cousins. Mosey had climbed on a rock. I was the first to see the trickle. Soon enough, everyone had noticed and there was definitely an amused audience. Mosey peed until he was all done, and as we got him off the rock, he said, "I pee pee'ed on the rock."

Yes, sweet boy, you sure did. His little shoes were filled with urine. :0/

ow.

i sliced an onion and a tomato for our burgers and left them on the table while i turned my attention to doing a few other things. mosey had already climbed up to the table to sit in his high chair, and was waiting with his arms folded neatly in front of him.

then i heard his little voice say, quite undramatically, "ow."

i turned to see what happened, and he gestured toward the cutting board. one slice of onion had a large, neat, moses-mouth-sized bite out of it!

he sipped some milk, and recovered quickly. :)

sweet and sour

our son is sweet and sour these days. most of the time he is incredibly sweet, which is really fortunate. here are some examples:

• we were all sitting on the recliner together, and i mentioned to mo that he needed to get up and put something away. and he told me we all had to get up. and as he got off the couch, he turned around and told us, "look, i'm getting up," implying that he was setting an example for us! what? he's setting a good example for his parents!!
• the other day, mosey told me several times in the evening, "i miss my daddy." shane was at school, and wasn't going to be able to be home before moses had to go to bed, so we tried to facetime and look at pictures and everything. mo seemed satisfied. about an hour after he went to bed, shane came home and soon after he started talking to me, moses started crying. shane peeked into mo's room, and moses told him through many sad tears, "i need to say hi to daddy!" he missed his daddy so much!
• during dinner this week a couple of times, moses looked at me wilting, and he said, "you tired, mommy? go lay down on the sofa, mommy." :)
• he tells me he needs to snuggle with me these days. and i love it. 
• he tells me, "i love your hair, mommy," as he puts his fingers through it. these are the times we can really understand why parents don't want their kids to ever grow up. he's so sweet. 

on the sour side of things, moses had been having the worst tantrums. i mean, high-octane screaming and thrashing for 10-15 minutes for no reason at all (that we can decipher). we tried to care adequately for him, while pretty much ignoring the theatrics (banking on the theory that we don't want to encourage the behavior through attention because negative attention is still attention), and PTL, the worst of it seems to have passed within about half a week. tantrums still come, but more briefly and not daily. parenting by trial and error, guys. 

currently cute mo pronunciations:

• funder = thunder
• emineminem = M&Ms
• knock-ah-lers = binoculars
• braffroom = bathroom

love that kid.