A very entertained toddler...

Playing the keyboard...he was obviously too mesmerized to look up at the camera.

Checking Daddy's ears with his new doctor's kit.

He LOVES  his bean bag...watching his new DVDs

Not sure who taught him this pose. :)

Showing off his sun glasses

Watching Daddy fish...and eating a snack

He had just thrown all of his balls in the pond for Jake to fetch....but Jake refused due to the cold water...so Wes had to go "fetch" them in the canoe...either way, Jay had served his purpose

Graduated to the toddler bed! 

what a big boy!

After I found mysterious crayon marks on the walls throughout the house I figured I'd let Jay draw on his teepee...maybe he will be satisfied with this.

Jay kept trying to blow in the otoscope....he was very serious about that being the proper way to use it..???

Showing me what's going on with "choo choo"

playing with his boat...we had to take both of his new boats to bed with him the first night.....now he knows they live in the tub.

I finally got all of his toys organized and have made several of them "outside only" toys since the weather has been so pretty. He has been thoroughly entertained with all of the new stuff around the house. I have tried all week to get pictures of him with all the new toys but he is obsessed with looking at "jay" every time I get the camera out. I made the mistake of showing him the pictures/videos on the camera a few weeks ago and he NEVER gets tired of looking at himself....yes, he is that vain. So I have to be very sneaky with picture taking these days which means I miss a lot. Maybe he will get over himself soon....

Well we are in a toddler bed after he climbed out of the crib the first two nights we got back from Georgia and walked down to our room at 3 am. He loves the bed (same crib, just with a side rail) and laughs every time I lay him in it at night. The problem is that he now wakes up at 6 in the morning. I guess he's always done this but since he was trapped he just went back to sleep. Now he sees no reason to do that when he can jump out and explore. And I really don't care if he plays in his room but that is not his plan....he thinks we ought to be up with him, cheerful and excited about the start of a new day. So we put a door knob cover on his door after a few bedside wake up calls. Now he just knocks on the door yelling, "mama!!" until one of us gets the message. So, as much as I love his sweet little face in the mornings, I am over waking up before the sun. We are going to try to convince him to stay in his bed until his new football alarm clock goes off (since he can't tell time maybe he can learn to wait on the football to make noise)--I'll keep you updated.

He had his 2 year check up yesterday. He is 29lbs, 35 inches tall. 50% for weight and 75% for height. He loves being examined (and why not, with all of the attention on him) so always is a big flirt when we go. They had to give him a shot, which gets sadder and sadder the older he gets. He told me, "no shot, no shot!" before the nurse came in and after it was done he grabbed his pants and said, "bye bye shot."

And for new things this week:

-he loves hopping. he will hop clear across the room for no reason (other to please himself, I guess)

-his favorite words: firetruck, firetruck man, helicopter, papa, tractor, hat, glasses, daddy's truck, choc (chocolate), and of course, candy. He says these all day long and are usually the first words out of his mouth in the mornings and after naptime....so I guess we know what he dreams about.

-he asks for "pass" (pacifier) when it's time to go to sleep and I am supposed to stop that at 2 years old but I just can't bring myself to take it away yet. I am hoping that the closer he gets to three he will be able to understand the concept of "giving it away" rather than mama "taking it away." Once he gets to that point I am going to "mail" all of his pacis to a baby who needs them. If I was smart I would have taken it away when he was around 9months. He didn't really care about it then and would never have known the difference.

-I still struggle with dealing with his meal preferences (and how often they change). He still likes beans and peas, cheese, rice, chicken, fruit, and, more than anything, candy (I cringe every time he asks for it because I know we are about to have war). And loves "choc" in his milk. He will even ask me to put choc in his juice and doesn't understand when I tell him that is gross.

-We are in a new phase of the terrible twos. The temper tantrums and drama have been toned down a good bit (thanks to "time out") but now he is just blatantly defiant. I say "don't do that" and he stares me in the eye with the most confident look and does exactly what he wants, then stares at me again in victory. He says, "no" and "stop" all day long. If I tell him to slow down he speeds up. If I say "no more candy" he runs to the pantry and starts climbing for it. He refuses to hold my hand in the street and demands to put himself in his carseat. If I dare to help him up he pushes me away and yells, "stop!"  Everyone says this is the first adolescence and if that's any indication of what is to come I may move to another country for about 5-7 years when he turns 13.


- Riding in the canoe is very fun to him but lately he fights his life jacket and thinks that it is so funny to jump around and make the boat shake. The day he causes me to fall in that nasty pond will be the last day we take "boat rides" together!

-he loves giving the credit card to cashiers. he smiles as big as he can and claps after they tell him thank you. He also loves to stand in the grocery cart and unload the items on the counter. I have found that if I give him jobs throughout our shopping errands he is much more behaved, aka pleasant to be around. When we are in the carts with steering wheels I get him to drive for me so about the time he's bored and starts fussing I say, "jay, we have to turn, turn the wheel for mama!" and he usually goes right along with it and is very proud that, thanks to him, we didn't wreck.

-he understands possessiveness now. he loves pointing out what is "mama's" and what is "daddy's"...."mama's glasses, daddy's shirt, mama's drink, daddy's coat, etc". And when we have friends over he goes over and starts showing them what is theirs and what is his.

-he knows what "right back" and 'wait your turn" mean, which cuts down on a lot of unnecessary tantrums that we used to have. If I tell him "mama will be right back" he repeats "right back" and smiles. After I go do whatever I needed to he is always right where I left him waiting patiently.

-Brushing teeth is still a challenge and I just hope he doesn't have 12 cavities the first time I take him to the dentist. We brush every night and I'm trying to get better about brushing in the mornings. He loves his new spiderman toothbrush that lights up but is sure that it is "firetruck man" (I guess because it flashes red) which I don't argue with since the beloved "firetruck man" can get away with just about anything. And he is much more compliant when I say, "firetruck man wants to brush jay's teeth" instead of "let mama brush jay's teeth".

This is a short clip of him talking on the phone after his bath. It is a bar of soap but he is sure that it's really a phone and talks on it every night.