"two yer ol!"

Two years old, as said by Uriah :)

It happened! You turned two. In a Seattle long stay hotel with just your dad and I singing 'Happy Birthday' to you over a vanilla cake that was supposed to be chocolate. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind for you, but you relished every minute of that song, blew out your candle with so much excitement, spent all day pointing at your birthday banner explaining "Iah's beefday!", and carried your new toy train around everywhere we went. Maybe it wasn't ideal, but I'm going to go ahead and say it was a success.

At two years old you are just shy of three feet tall, in the 98% for height, and a whopping 35 pounds, putting you in the 97% for weight. Basically, you're a beast! You love doing pull-ups and pushups with dad and show off your muscles every chance you get! I just bought our last box of size 5 diapers and you'll be making the jump to size 6 next time I go to the store. You're in 2-3T bottoms, 3-4T tops and size 7 shoes.

You just recently went through a pretty picky eating stage, but we're on the up swing of that and your diet is just about back to normal - minus a few foods that used to be your favorite and plus some things you never would have tried before. You eat 4-5 times a day, your favorites being eggs, cereal, Annie's crackers, yogurt and granola, string cheese, cuties, garbanzo and black beans, bread and bagels, noodles, pizza, pancakes, smoothies and, of course, ice cream ;)

Your speech has really started to take off, especially in last two months. You went from having your own words for things to saying the first syllable of the word to now saying the whole word or part of the word and putting 3 to 5 words together in a complete sentence! It seems like each day you say something new or surprise us with something you remembered from a few days ago - putting new words and concepts together. When you tell stories you use your arms and hands to help make your point and you get these big eyes and take long blinks and tilt your head to the side as you nod it up and down - I need to capture this on video! For a long time you were really into repeating things, to help you understand, I think. Over and over again you would say things like "geen, go! jellow, low! red, dop!" (explaining the colors and meanings of stop lights) - we couldn't get you to change the subject for the life of us! And now you're really into repeating what we say, trying to mimic our words with the correct infliction. My favorites are "there 'ya go" and "good yob" :)

Now that you're talking so well, you've dropped all the signs we taught you except for "thank you", that one still shows up every now and then. You can count to five (on your fingers, too!) but most often get stuck on two because it's your favorite ;) You can repeat us up to ten but don't know those last five on your own just yet. You just started to get into the alphabet and are always asking me to sing the song, read your alphabet books or write the alphabet out when we're coloring. You understand that the words dad and I read are made of letters and letters make up the alphabet (it's one of those concepts you repeat over and over again ;). You know all the "normal" colors, animal sounds and body parts (and then some not so normal ones of each ;) and are starting to know your shapes (right now you've mastered the circle and star).

For the last year you have carried around your stuffed penguin, Wink, everywhere we go and that relationship is just getting stronger. You can officially say his name ("Weent") and when we ask you who your best friend is, you most often point to him. You hug him, kiss him, talk to him, feed him... It's quite honestly the cutest dang thing! Him and your blankey ("bee", which you make little folds in to rub back and forth when you're sleepy - just something I don't want to forget that you do) are your go to comfort items and watching you snuggle up with them just shows how sweet and soft hearted you are. You love giving kisses and hugs and say "luff you" in the sweetest voice. You're all about the cuddles with mom and dad when reading books, singing songs or watching movies and you're always asking to sit on my lap when we're playing with your toys. I love that as much as you love "going" and being a boy, you are still so very much my baby.

But you are just that, a BOY! Though you're not so much a fan of the messes once they're on you, you love digging in the dirt and throwing things and being outside and getting into things you're not supposed to and yelling and all modes of transportation and anything fast or big... Everything you do and say and the way you react to things, it's all just so innately boy! I have had to change the way I see and do things to better understand you and cater to you - you've been such a challenge and a blessing for me and I am so grateful that you are mine and that we get to figure this life out together.

So, you at two. You are currently loving... Thomas the train (and all his friends!), balls (you own one for just about every sport and can throw, shoot, bump and kick them all with perfection!), planes and helicopters (your favorite movie still being Planes: Fire and Rescue, you run around the house making your planes dump water on the fire), shooting guns (I have Pa to thank for this one... He let you watch moose hunting videos when we went up to Alaska and then uncle Aaron taught you to load, cock and shoot a nerf gun!), building with your blocks (towers, houses for your animals and tunnels for your trains), reading books (your current favorites are the "If You Give a..." series), being outside (oh this is your number one! Playtime outside is your love language! You would spend hours and hours outside if we let you - the cold doesn't bother you one bit! You love running and playing chase, collecting sticks and playing swords, climbing the stairs on the playground, going down the slides and being in the swings), fighting with dad on the bed (aka, wrestling. This is just as much dad's favorite thing as it is yours! You offer up lots of cuddles mid wrestling match), dancing (your favorite songs are "nah nah" (Can't Hold Us by Macklemore) and "shake off" (Shake it Off by Taylor Swift). You get your dance moves from your dad ;), playing hide and seek (you don't fully understand the concept - you always hide in the same spot and when it's your turn to count you squint your eyes instead of close them and watch us wherever we go. Still, it's the cutest dang thing!), bath time (you would spend hours in the tub if I let you!), cooking with your play food and dishes, horses (dad's old lego horses are your favorite!), coloring (you're just now starting to understand the concept more and love drawing circles and lines and tracing your hand), singing (your favorite songs are The Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Let it Go. We'll catch you singing to yourself in your carseat all the time!), dinosaurs (this is a new one for you and I love the way you say 'dinosaurs' with so much enthusiasm! You can point out a T-Rex in any book and love to make your figurines fight and then kiss), swimming (you love the pool at the Y! You aren't afraid of the slides, can pull yourself out of the pool on your own, know to kick with your legs and paddle with your arms, blow bubbles, try and float and go under water willingly (well, it's about 50/50 ;) I think you'll be swimming on your own in the near future!).

Dislikes... There really isn't anything you always dislike, these things come and go with your mood, but you're not usually a huge fan of getting your diaper changed, trying new food, getting a hair cut and listening to (and obeying) us, which is such a broad topic, ranging anywhere from "come here" to "let's get your jammies on" to cleaning up your toys, but given an explanation of why we're asking you to do that and being told that its your job to listen and obey, you almost always do it (though you're not a stranger to time outs!) It can get pretty frustrating when we're in a hurry or when I can tell that you're just doing it for the sake of being naughty, but I can also tell that most of the time you're just finding your boundaries and learning right from wrong and asserting your independence, so it's not all bad.

Uriah Michael, you have been such a joy to get to know these last two years. I love watching your personality unfold and develop as you learn and grow. You are truly such a light in our lives. I am so honored to be your mother and I hope you always know just how loved and cherished you are!