2.5 Years Old!

Wow, my baby boy is 2 and a half years old today!  I can’t believe how fast time flies by and how SO grown up he is already!  Here’s what the big 2.5 year old is up to:

• He weighs 27 pounds, wears size 2T tops and 18-24 month bottoms.
• His favorite food is Oreo cookies.  I probably let him eat more than he should but only because it’s great therapy for lefty!  He insists on twisting the one side off and then will only eat whichever side has the cream. 
• He goes to bed around 9pm and sleeps until 8:30am (except during the week when I have to wake him to go to Nana’s).
• He doesn’t fuss about normal 2 year old things like eating, naptime, bedtime, bath time, getting dressed….BUTTTTTT
• What he does fuss about are completely ridiculous, not logical things.  Like when he says its raining outside and I say no its not.  MELTDOWN.  Or when he decides that he has a new favorite show and I don’t have any recorded and its not on TV at that moment.  MELTDOWN.  These are not normal lay on the ground kicking & screaming meltdowns either…instead they are full blown arguments!  About things that make no sense.  Hello gray hair.
• All day long he shouts out orders on how he thinks the world should run.  We call these Ryder’s Rules.  I want to open the door, I want to go down the stairs first, You follow me Mom, Don’t buckle my monster, Turn on my Jesus music, That’s not loud enough, THIS IS NOT THE PATH TO NANA’S!!  TURN THE CAR AROUND!!! 
• A millisecond later it switches to Jesus Loves Me Dis I Knowwwww, I love you Mom, I will miss you while you’re at work, let’s call Daddy, I’ll take good care of Maisy today.
• Did that just make you feel bi-polar?  Or is that just me every morning?
• Sorry, these bullets are supposed to be about Ryder…like good things about Ryder…not me going on and on about how instead of celebrating his half birthday, I’m celebrating the fact that we’ve survived half of these horrible, terrible two’s!
• He has such a huge vocabulary and pronounces every syllable when he talks.  I love when he uses words in the wrong context and pretends like he knows what he’s talking about.  “Momma, I don’t need to take a bath, I’m not all crumbly!”  Or when he uses sounds as words like when he doesn’t want me to laugh at what he’s saying, instead of asking me not to laugh he’ll say “Momma don’t say hahahahaha!”
• He is doing great in therapy and has overcome some really big fears of being unstable, it’s to the point now where he shocks us every week by doing something new that he used to refuse to do.
• He loves to draw, paint, play with Play-Doh, play with his tools, ride on his truck or his bike, and go to the Kids Spot at the gym.
• His favorite books to read are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Llama Llama, and of course his Bible.  He has the story of David & Goliath memorized, I will have to try to get that on video!
• He’s the best big brother ever!!  He is always so concerned with Maisy and what she’s doing.  When he’s not all up on her, he can be found hanging out in one of her many chairs!

This little guy is so hilarious, he makes us laugh probably 100 times every day.  Even with all the challenges that a 2.5 year old brings, he is the light of our lives and we wouldn’t trade him for the world!