Jack - 27-28 months

Jack - 26 months (July 2013).  Photo by Michelle Boyd.

Stats:  Jack turned 28 months on September 11.  He is starting to outgrow some 2T shirts but can still wear 18-24 or 2T shorts.  We just switched to size 8 sneakers for the fall (though his size 7 summer sandals still work).  He's gotten a few molars and is about 36.5 inches tall and weighs about 27.5 lbs.

Sleeping:  Jack continues to be a great sleeper.  He goes to bed pretty easily around 7:30 (after at least 2 trips to the potty, more to come on that!) and wakes up around 7-7:15.  He is totally content to sing in his bed while falling asleep or after waking up.  He takes one nap from about 1-3:30 pm.

Eating:  Jack is still eating really well.  He will eat pretty much anything, and we can usually talk him into at least a few bites of green vegetables.  For breakfast, his favorite foods are cereal with milk, yogurt, fruit, eggs and bacon, bagels, etc.  For lunch, he usually has some combination of ham/turkey/cheese or peanut butter as the main entree.  How creative of me :)  For dinner, he likes just about anything that we eat and doesn't mind his foods being "saucy" or "mixed" like his big sister does.  He loves soup, any type of pasta or casserole dish (spaghetti, enchiladas, etc), meat, especially hamburgers, beans, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, etc.  The potty training has also thrown a little loop into meal time because he figured out that if he asked to go to the potty, he got to leave the table.  Sometimes it is hard to get him to come back!  His favorite food by far is macaroni.  If he could eat at Panera every day for every meal, I'm sure he would.

Potty training:  We started potty training while my parents were in town at the end of August.  My mom graciously volunteered to help "get it done", and after a week and a half in, he's doing great.  I think he's been easier than Elise, mostly because he isn't stubborn about when he will go to the potty.  She liked to wait until it was her idea.  He will go whenever I suggest it, which we always do at a transition time (like leaving the house, going to jump on the trampoline, nap time, bed time, etc).  He will also tell me if he wants to go.  We've switched to the big potty at home but I do keep the potty chair in the back of the van for now.  The only wrinkle is that he sometimes uses his pull up during sleep time for #2.  He did that before potty training almost all the time, so I'm thinking it's just a habit that he'll break at some point.  Consequently, we are using a pull up for nap time as well as night time.

Playing:  Jack is completely and totally all boy.  He could play in the house with his wheeled vehicles all day and be completely content.  He loves construction equipment, trains, cars, trucks, Duplos, etc.  The Step2 Train and Track table that we purchased for his 2nd birthday has gotten tons of use every day from both kids.  He really enjoys picking out a vehicle to accompany him to the potty :)  His favorite books are Thomas the Train and he also enjoys watching the Thomas videos on Netflix.  He has to go find his favorite trains before the book or DVD can begin :)  He's always up for going for walks, picking up sticks and rocks, playing at the park, zoo, etc, jumping on the trampoline, and "driving" the Cozy Coupe.  I'm thankful that he is so easy to entertain!  

Personality:  Jack is a really easy-going 2 year old, so far at least!  He is so much fun to be around.  He is very polite and usually reasonable.  He is very social and won't hesitate to strike up a conversation with anyone he meets.  For example, this was his end of the conversation with a cashier at Trader Joe's recently:
"Hi!  How are you?"
"That's my mommy."
"My name is Jack.  J-A-C-K.  What is your name?"
"This is my fire truck.  The flat bed truck is in mommy's purse because I dropped it."

Part of the reason that he isn't going to preschool this year is because he is so happy just playing at home, both by himself and with others, and he doesn't have any clingy separation issues with me.  I'm quite sure that he would LOVE to go, but I enjoy getting to spend time with him one-on-one while Elise is at Pre-K since that is really the only alone time we have.  He'll get his chance to go next year :)

Funny sayings:

(apparently thinking he should be switched to rest time)
"I want to play while Elise takes a nap."

(when we went to visit Aunt Jennifer at the UT football stadium)
"Jennifer, show me something cool."

(when Elise was teasing him in July and he thought she was telling a lie)
"Elise, you just told a July!"

(while on a walk... the boy loves school buses!)
J:  "Mama, I want to tell you a question."
Me:  "What is your question?"
J:  "Are there any school buses coming?"

(grilling with Daddy in the backyard)
"Daddy, you can't make fire trucks, but you can make dinner."

(while running through the playroom and tripping on an object... looked back and saw that it was an airplane)
"Oh no, there was an airplane coming!"

(apparently we've done a lot of bribing with Thomas trains during the last 2 weeks of potty training!)
"I got Emily for pee pee on the potty and I got Flynn for poop on the potty and I got James for poop on the potty.  But I didn't get Percy for anything."  (Percy was a 2nd birthday present from Mimi and Pop, haha)

(while on a walk)
J:  "I don't want to scrape my knee on the curb so I am going to run slow.  I am not going to run fast."
Me:  "Good idea, Jack."
J:  "Thank you!"

"Mama, you can jump in circles with me on the trampoline when you get your baby outta there (points to my belly)."

(Mike was playing fetch with Boss while Jack was still eating dinner)
"Daddy, it's not time to play tennis ball right now.  It's time to finish dinner first."