2 doesnt need to be terrible

Pancakes in the morning. The picture was taken this morning. And it was at this moment, that i looked at him stirring the pancake mix, he looked back at me, and he said "thank you". And it hit me that he is growing up. Lately all ive been able to notice are the awful meltdowns brought on by not being allowed to watch the Curious George movie for the 100th time, or by telling him he HAS to wear pants if he wants to go shopping with me. But i have to remind myself that this is actually a good thing. Its good because it means he is growing up. He is practicing his opinions and independence. I could do without the tantrums that are so intense that i lose my appetite for the day....but i guess thats part of it. I should actually be proud of him for how opinionated, confident, and expressive he is at such a young age.

Ive been trying to get a good picture to use for his bday invitations, but a photo shoot with an almost 2 year old is not very realistic. He never wants to smile when i need him to.

Though, he's pretty good at providing me with plenty of other animated looks.

Waiting to flip the pancakes (im a little scary at 8:30 am)

"Bubble"
His latest word and latest favorite activity. Every time he blows a bubble, he has to say the word as loud as he can. My poor, yet understanding neighbors.

Forest and i hit the road on Fri to head to the Bay Area to see our family. I kind of love these mini road trips just the two of us. We always start out with a stop at Starbucks for my coffee with cream and his mini scone and water. Once i have the caffeine greatness in the cup holder next to me, we are set to hit the road and begin our 2.5 hours drive. He usually passes out after he comes down from his sugar high and after we have had a van concert to our favorite songs. (songs will remain nameless in order to keep both our reputaions in the clear)
Once he's asleep, its a great alone time for me. Silence. Or talk radio. And hes usually waking up by the time we take the Livorna exit to my parents house. Thats my favorite moment. His favorite moment is when we pull into their driveway....he instantly starts calling out to the dogs and trying to free himself from the car seat. Going to my parent's, is like taking Forest on an overnight trip to a park...a park that has dogs! He is happy to explore the huge yard, go on the tire swing, run with the dogs, play hard with cousin Lil, and be barefoot and free. And i feel like im in heaven, because i get a slight break from watching him! A huge yard with a fence, what a concept!
Needless to say, we both have a great time and its always fun to hang out with family and see a couple of friends. We are usually exhausted by the time we get back home. Somehow, the drive back is never quite as fun. The concerts are minimal. The pre-hit the road coffee is more important then ever. And i look like a real gem by the time i walk up to our apartment door to be greeted by my lovely husband. What a treat for him.
The day after, Forest was in a horrible mood and so tired. It happened to be an extremely busy and scheduled day. He got very quiet while i was making his lunch. I came around the corner and found him tucked into the diaper box, in the living room, about to fall asleep. Poor guy.
I promptly grabbed my camera. I was very surprised that he actually wanted to eat his lunch, but he did! But he HAD to eat it from in the box. What a troll.

yogi in training

Forest watches every move i make these days. Ive been trying to fit in my exercise every morning before we are full force into our day. I have a much better day when i actually accomplish this. The other morning, i unrolled my yoga mat. Left the room. Came back, and this is what i found! Forest in full yoga practice. I was quite proud of him. And i like to think that maybe he felt nice and stretched out for the rest of his day!

"Downward facing dog"

"sun salutations"

concentration

Its been such great weather! Forest has been spending most of his days playing outside, and desparately trying to get a tan. haha or maybe thats just me. Last night he was extremely busy working on a tower of blocks and coffee containers. It ended up being as tall as him! He had no help in building this. He was really proud! Sometimes he concentrates so hard on his "projects" that i wonder if hes even having fun. I would never know by the look on his face. He can rarely crack a smile until the project is complete...in which he then lets out a loud a proud "TADA!" and a "OOOO YAAAAY". He definitely does not get this deep focus and concentration from me...his projects are causing me to fear the days when he needs home work help after school.

Easter

The three of us had a very fun Easter at home.
A friend of mine calls Easter the "yearly pilgrimage". Meaning, its the one Sunday out of the whole year that people feel the need to step into a church. Knowing that i havent been able to go to church lately, and knowing that Robert was off work for Easter, i realized that it would be possibly to finally get to church if we wanted to. But then the words of my friend came into my head. I realized that if we went to church, we would actually be a part of the pilgrimage since we havent been to church for quite some time. We totally qualify to be in this category this year. So....I then heard the words of my mother from when i was a kid, "we are not going to church for Easter so that there will be extra seats available to people who havent been all year". Hmmmm.
After thinking about how miserable Forest would be in the chaotic and crowded Sunday school,
i was convinced to stay home. We even decided against inviting people over.
So it was declared a family day in our home!
And this is how it went......

Forest and I made cinnamon rolls in the morning.
He was a great helper

But he was very mad when they had to go into the oven.
He checked their progress every couple of minutes.
And finally, sobbing, climbed into his highchair and put on his bib,
and proceeded to wait.
Finally, they were done baking!
He helped with the frosting.

Already starting the sugar high
"back away from my cinnamon roll"

Our Easter breakfast

Spying on Dad while he hides the eggs

His fist Easter egg hunt!

He knew exactly what to do

"Did i find them all?"

The eggs were filled with mini frogs, stickers, and fruit snacks.

And due to the sugary cinnamon rolls followed by fruit snacks, he had a complete

emotional melt down 15 min after the hunt and went to bed for 3 hours!
I spent the afternoon baking a carrot cake.
Forest helped me frost it after his nap

He thought he was so cool helping

After a while he realized he could eat the frosting
(quite the sugary day)

The finished cake!

The 3 of us took some of the cake over to our friends and then came home to have a dinner prepared by Robert. We had a great day together. We missed being with some of our family that we knew were gathering together for the day, but we were so glad to spend the day doing the beginnings of our own family traditions.

The morning after.....all stickers that were once in the eggs, are now on our glass door.

Moles

Two peas in a pod.

We soaked up a movie in bed night. Tues and Wed is our weekend. So we thought it would be fun to finish off the weekend snuggled up in bed like two moles. Forest is really into the movie Babe, and so of course thats the one we watched. Lucky for me, i happen to love it too!
FINALLY NOT BARNEY! He always gets very concerned about what is happening with the animals throughout the movie. Gasping, whispering some "uh oh's" and "oh no's" under his breath. It was a rainy day, so we enjoyed some hot apple/pear cider during our mole time.
He was livin it up...mom and dad's bed, night time showing of Babe, plus cider.

I love doing stuff like this, and lately ive been thinking of how in the near future, it will no longer be two moles in the bed...but three! (four if we let Robert participate). Another mole will be so fun (and maybe my use of the word "fun" proves that ive never had more than 1 child before).
But id like to imagine that ill jump right into being a mom of 2, just as i jumped into being a mom period. I hope Forest jumps into being a big brother too. For now, im totally enjoying the one on one time with Forest and soaking it up, because i know it will be different one day.
We have what my mom likes to call a "mystery due date", so i dont know when it will happen.
I do know however, that we have at least the next month and a half before i have to be ready.
I never want to feel like i missed out on special time alone with Forest, so for the next month and a a half, plus however long it takes, ill be taking advantage of being two peas in a pod.