Lucas William {2 Years}

Dear Lucas, 

Today you are TWO! How?! Why?! When did you get so big? Weren’t we just hanging out in the NICU like last week?! Time is such a thief. But I just love, love, love the crazy little boy you are becoming!

We have your 2 year old check up next week, so I’ll update your stats then...but if I had to guess, I’d say you are pretty tall? You seem to outgrow the lengths of your pants faster than anything else. You are solidly wearing size 2T, although I can still squeeze you into some 24 month stuff (I swear, aren’t those sizes pretty much the same thing anyway?!). You wear size 5 diapers and size 6/7 shoes. You have wide feet like your mama.

Your speech is definitely improving and you now have a vocabulary of about 50 words. We will see what the pediatrician thinks, but I am hesitant to put you in speech therapy because even though you are talking less than most kids your age, I really think it is due to stubbornness more than ability! You’ve proved since day 1 (no literally, remember the bilirubin?!) that you are one stubborn guy, and this is just another thing for you to be stubborn about (we will add it to the list: jaundice, anemia, going home from the hospital, sleeping on your belly, sleeping in general, not taking a bottle, crawling, walking...and I won’t even mention your bathroom troubles in case your future prom date ends up reading this)!

Anyway! You are getting much better about communicating with us, rather than screaming and throwing things. One of your favorite words is water and you say it with a little Boston accent “wuh-duh” and it is so cute! Another one of my favorite words you say is bulldozer, but you decide to leave off that last syllable, so it’s just “bull-doh.” Love it.

In the last few months, I have gotten 2 things (for free!) that you are 100% completely obsessed with: a train table and a swing set. First, let’s discuss the train table. It is the first thing you run to when we get downstairs in the morning, and the thing I have to physically tear you away from when it’s time for nap or bed. You LOVE all of your choo choos and carry them all over the house! You completely destroyed the tracks the first few days, but I glued some tracks down so now you are able to run the trains on them a little better (although you’ve attempted to rip up some of the tracks, even the ones that are glued down! Human hurricane, right here!). And, oh the swing set. The new game for you whenever we get out of the car is to wrestle yourself free from my arms and take off toward the backyard to go down the slide. You call the whole thing an “EEEEE!” As in, the sound you make when you go down the slide! You are always looking outside and pointing to the EEEEE and when you see one in another person’s backyard, you are sure to let us know!

You still love books, especially ones about transportation and/or animals (this is why you are having a “Little Blue Truck” themed party...perfect combo of trucks and farm animals!). You are obsessed with “Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site” and every time we drove past a construction site, you say “Sh! Sh! Sh!” just like in the book. You also love “First 100 Machines” (and really any book in this series) and are constantly bringing it up to me to show me all of the different vehicles in it! You LOVE fire trucks and make a siren noise whenever you see one. We drove by the fire station on Pineville Matthews Rd. so often that you know exactly where it is and you make a siren noise every time we go past it! You also love plain, regular cars...especially “Daddy Car!” You are obsessed with just sitting in Daddy’s car, hanging out! 

You and your sister still have a special bond. You both drive each other crazy and then are hugging each other 5 seconds later. When you sit next to her in the big cart at Target, you always end up pulling her hair (and by pulling, I mean ripping out big chunks!). I’m pretty sure you think her name is “School” because when we ask you “Where’s Ella?” you always say “school”....but then if we show you a picture of Ella and ask you “who’s this?” you say “school” too! You used to say her name all of the time...and now it’s been replaced with “School.” I guess there are worse names you could call her though?! You also know where her preschool is, because every time we drive by it, you yell “School! School!”

You are such a boy and oh my goodness, I have some major gray hairs from you. I will never judge those people who put their children on leashes because Daddy and I have considered it many times. You are just a wild man! You have no fear, and because of this, get more bumps and bruises than anyone I know. You were not scared to go down the huge slide at the strawberry patch and ended up tearing up your face! You also face plant at least once a week, giving you a nice little bump on your forehead from time to time. You do not like holding my hand for more than about 5 seconds, and you think it’s funny to run away from me (especially through a parking lot). I get so mad but then I see your sweet, sneaky smile and I end up laughing with you, too. Your smile just puts me in a good mood, no matter how naughty you’ve been!

You still eat and sleep like a rock star. You love your Chase (Paw Patrol, ugh) spoon that the Easter bunny brought you, and it’s made eating yogurt more exciting for you! Your favorite food is probably strawberries, which you call “straw straws.” You ask for them at every meal and I can’t blame you! You also ask for cheese all of the time too, and you love those gross sticks that you dip in the fake cheese! You love meat, especially chicken and Daddy’s homemade barbecue. 

As far as sleeping, I have no desire to move you to a big boy bed, even though we will be needing your crib soon. You sleep about 12 hours at night and take a 2 (sometimes 3+) hour nap in the afternoon. 

Little Lulu, thanks for another fun year! You keep things exciting for us, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! You bring so much joy and happiness to our lives, and we couldn’t imagine our family without you in it! I’m eager to see how you will grow and change this year, as you become a big brother in just a few months! I know you’ll be great with the baby (you love babies)! Until then, soak up every second of being my baby boy!  We love you so much Lucas!!