Almost 3!

Little Damon just turned two! If you ask him how old he is he’ll immediately answer, “20 months!” When we try to tell him he’s almost two, he starts running around laughing and saying, “I’m almost three!!” It’s pretty much his favorite joke right now. Doesn’t really sound that funny, I’m realizing as I write this, but somehow just about everything Damon says seems funny. He’s talking A LOT. Anything Riley says gets immediately repeated by Damon, so as a result he’s developed quite a vocabulary.

Damon is a real joy to be around. I know I’m biased, but he seems to cheer up others as well. A couple months ago I took him to the emergency room after he cut open his head at daycare. It wasn’t too serious, but did need a few staples. We were at the hospital for about 4 hours and over that period he ran around charming everyone in the waiting room and winning over even the grumpiest ER nurses. No tears at all when they cleaned out his wound and put in the staples. The only time he cried was when they wouldn’t give him water after eating saltines (just in case he need to be sedated, I guess most kids his age do for a head wound).

I think Damon should be the poster boy for sleep training. We were pretty strict about it right from the beginning (having learned our lesson from Riley), and he’s been a great sleeper. Around 8pm one of starts reading to him in his room. After the last book, the lights go out and we sit in the chair talking about the day. After a few minutes he points to his crib, gives a a big hug and sloppy kiss, then curls up with his his head in the corner. As we leave he waves and says “g’night! sleep well! love you!” Around 7am we start hearing him singing through the monitor. Usually it’s a combination of twinkle twinkle little star, abc’s and row row row your boat. Sometimes he just chats to himself. Sometimes he starts calling out every name he can think of, not urgently, just checking if anyone is around. Riley, amazingly, sleeps through all of this, even if Damon is singing at the top of his lungs.

Damon certainly isn’t a complete angel though. He’s very… physical. The main source of conflict in our house is that Damon always wants to play with Riley, and she usually does not want to play with him. So Damon ends up pushing or pulling on her, trying to wrestle, generally being rough. Riley is still bigger and stronger, but every time she’s the one who ends up crying. He also likes to throw things, hit things with sticks, generally make a huge mess in any way he can. None of it is done in malice, even the hitting and pushing. I hate to say it, but he’s kind of a stereotypical boy. He likes trucks and dirt and he isn’t afraid of anything. Except for the cats. He is inexplicably frightened of the cats. If we’re around, he’s okay, but if he’s alone in the hallway and one of the cats walks up he’ll scream at the top of his lungs and run away, it’s bizarre. Big huge dogs on the street, no problem. LIttle kitten sleeping on the couch, terrifying.

For his birthday we decided to just do something simple at the daycare, like we did when Riley turned two. Riley suggested we make mini cornbread muffins which went over surprisingly well with the kids. I was worried they wouldn’t like them since they aren’t very sweet, but the gobbled them all up. It was pretty sweet, Lucy had them all sitting around a little table outside waiting for us. They all sang and cheered, then dived in to the food. After muffins, we brought out dinosaur tattoos and the kids went crazy for them. Temporary tattoos are BRILLIANT. After each kid was tatted up I suddenly wondered if their parents would mind… but luckily Lucy’s daycare attracts a pretty low key easy going crowd. We brought a huge bunch of balloons and the kids had a blast running around the yard. This is such a great age, doesn’t take much to make a toddler happy.

Back at home, Riley, Eric, Kylene and I had put together a big birthday table full of legos and wrapped up dinosaurs. Sage and Riley put the finishing touches on with lollypops, gummy bears and M&M’s. Damon nearly exploded with excitement when he saw the table. He’s been on a big lego kick recently. We have a bunch of legos that Sam gave us before she moved (her mother had saved them since Sam was little), and Eric and Sage have been building crazy houses and cars with Damon. The obvious choice for his birthday was thus more simple lego blocks, and a bunch of little lego men (Damon loves to put the little guys together). We figured the dinosaurs would be a good indestructible toy for him. He takes them everywhere – they eat dinner with him, go in the pool, ride in the car seat. Luckily there are plenty of them so he and Riley don’t have to argue.

As usual I wish I was better about chronically Damon and Riley’s lives. I fear that I’ll forget anything that isn’t recorded on the blog or with a picture or video, so as a result we have a bizzilion pictures on my phone and Sage’s. It’s amazing how happy they make me. Life is definitely more complicated and hectic with two kids, and there are certainly a lot of things we miss out on, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. When work is discouraging and stressful, it’s so nice to come home to kids who just love you, pure and simple. They are endlessly entertaining, you never know what is coming next with these two…