2 Years, 6 Months

Dear Etrain,

Two and a half! I can't believe what a big boy you are now. You are just so fun. I mean, you've always been fun, but it's just different now. You're a full blown little person with thoughts, feelings, opinions, habits, and a bunch of personality. Oh, and you may be the sweetest little boy that ever lived. You love to snuggle, hug, and kiss and lately you'll randomly just walk up to me, give me a huge hug and tell me "I love my mom." Oh wow, that melts my heart. As you're reading this, if you've stopped doing that, will you please start again right now? I love, love, love it and I always will.

This month was filled with a bunch of random activities, so I'll just share stories as I go through the pictures.

This past month began with the rest of our visit with Grammy! By now you had convinced her to sit with you and watch the smoke detectors. You guys did this several times. I don't remember if I've mentioned your brief fear of smoke detectors, but it only lasted a week or so. Often after that though, you would point them out, especially the red light flash that happens every few minutes. So above are just some shots of you two chatting away and watching for the red light. It looked very silly, but was actually quite sweet.

Grammy really likes the restaurant, Javiers (so do I). So on her last full day here, we went there for lunch. Afterward we let you run around on the patch of grass we always hang out on when at Irvine Spectrum. We also tried to get a photo of you and Grammy. Per usual, it was difficult to get you to smile and look at the camera at the same time.

Below is just us being silly. Dada came home from work early one Friday, so we tried out a new restaurant in Dana Point. After we were done eating, Dada put some water in your hair. It looked silly so I pulled out my phone... and here you go...

That same weekend we were looking for something new to do so we tried out a new park. The park was actually sort of far away, but we wanted to check it out because we knew it had a train ride. We found a playground first and spent quite a bit of time here. We did some climbing and sliding, but your favorite, of course, was the swings. THEN, was the train. You were actually quite calm though the ride. I think it was the sun that just tired you out because you didn't seem as excited as I thought you'd be. But for days, maybe even a couple weeks, you talked about that train. The photo of all of us was taken on the train. Look at your face. Ha!

You still love your sand box. We've had plenty of May gray and June gloom so weather permitting, we'll go out there. Your thing right now, is to bury the trucks. We'll bury them, you'll ask me "where'd they go?", then we'll magically discover them...and do it all over again, and again, and again. It's so interesting how you can do the same thing over and over and it's still exciting and new to you.

This is just too cute. One day after you and I took a shower I dried you off and had you standing next to me while I dried off and got dressed. I hadn't put a diaper on you yet, and I stepped out for what felt like a second to get some clothes, you had an accident on the bathroom floor. While I was cleaning it up, you took off running down the hall - towel on your head, still no diaper. After I got a diaper on you, you had fallen in love with the towel and probably spent the next half hour running up and down the hall. You're also flexing your muscles for me below.

This is just you being adorable.

Nana and Papa took a trip to New York City, so before they left they came over to visit. You of course, got them to play in the sandbox with you.

After you wake up from nap you love to play in your room. You've got this car tower thing the has a big downhill, winding track for cars, but also folds down to a flat little town with a road, grocery store, ice cream shop, mechanic, gas station, car wash, etc. You and I get a ton of ice cream cones, and we visit the mechanic a bunch. And we build many block tunnels and towers for that little town.

Fun at the park with Dada.

Grandma and Grandpa came to hang with you and babysit for us. Dada and I had a wonderful date night, meanwhile you had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa. They stayed the night, so the next morning we made breakfast and while we cooked you cuddled with Grandma. She loved it. A few days later Grandma and Grandpa sent you some goodies in the mail.

So your thing these days is fake smiles. Actually, you have a fake cry that you do as well, but that's another story. When I ask you to smile for me, you usually make the "cheese" face...which involves putting your chin up, squinting your eyes, and usually looking away from me. So examples of that smile are below. Also note that awesome post-nap, sweaty hair.

Most days after your nap, we play in your room. Sometimes I like to just record the random stuff we are doing or talking about. You weren't too into it this time, but you started calling to yourself on the screen and it's pretty darn cute.

Speaking of nap time, I'm not sure I've mentioned our routine. You're very into structure and routine. If dad and I try to switch it up, you're quick to correct us. For example, after I put you in jammies at bed time, you give me hugs and kisses, then you "fly" to dad who is sitting in the chair. Sometimes dad will try to get you to jump to him off the changing table, and you tell him, "No, dad. Sit in chair." And you love, love, love doggy and bunny. They lay in the same spot with you every time you go to bed. I love that you are so sweet with them. I often get kisses from bunny. Sometimes doggy gets kisses from bunny. There's always hugs and snuggles. It's so adorable.

You love to kick the ball around at home, so I figured you'd love to try it out at the park. After some static electricity on the slide, you started with the ball. Tons of fun.

It's been warmer so we've been testing out the pool, well, the spa. The heat hasn't been warm enough to heat the entire pool, but the spa only takes 20 minutes or so, and is a great afternoon activity. You love "driving" the boats, splashing, jumping and even going underwater, which is great. We just need to work on your floating.

Two more silly videos before I wrap it up. There's a social media program called Snapchat, and it lets you record yourself with silly filters. You and I were having fun being silly one day with those filters. The other video is dad singing one of his bedtime songs to you. The band, Cake, has a song called "The Distance", and dad often sings it to you before bed. You once asked him for a race car song and that's what he came up with...and it stuck.