27 Months

Ethan is such a booger right now. He's in full 2 yr old mode. He loves to push older brother's buttons and likes to make him mad....which usually never ends well. But he likes the chase. He also likes to say "no" a lot...to everything. He's gotten really bad at eating and cleaning up. I will ask him to clean up and he will say "no....sorry mama". At least he's polite about it. Still makes me mad though. I have withheld the night milk until all toys are picked up....on several occasions. There were a lot of tears....those days. He used to eat to well. But now, I feel he just likes snacks. I don't really buy cookies and candy, but he will try to get fruit snacks or ritz crackers....I stopped buying them or I hide them way up high in the pantry. But I will let him get away with yogurt, or string cheese, or peanut butter or fruit pouches. Dinners have gotten very hard. I find myself cooking for the adults, and then cooking something else entirely for the kids- it's so annoying. How does anyone get past this? Do you just let them starve if they don't eat? In a couple of occasions, I did starve them. I made something I knew they both liked, and they both refused to eat...so I told them this was it and no more food or snacks after this. And that is exactly what happened...even though they were asking for sandwiches at 8:30pm. They had a small cup of milk and off to bed they went. SO, I can be mean....its just so irritating. When I make an extra dinner at 8:30pm, it makes ME want to eat...and that's not good either. There's really no reason for that. It's bad enough I can't lose weight by going to the gym....but I also refuse to gain more.

Recently, he likes to sit on piles of stuff...

he likes mustaches...for a little while

He loves his letters and numbers still. He loves nursery rhymes a lot. He finally stayed in nursery. It has been three weeks. He cries a lot the first couple of minutes, and the last ten....but he has to deal with it. Dad cannot be there because of work and his mama has to teach, so he's on his own. He really does enjoy snack time though. And HE LOVES strawberries....really, any kind of berries. Even though he eats terrible, I really dont worry about him. He doesn't crave high fructose corn syrup like his older brother. He's totally content eating fruits and dairy. He also LOVES Ranch dressing. He calls it "sauce" and dips it with anything. The other day I found him dipping ritz crackers and hot dogs in that thing. I think he may have a problem. He feels like anything on the plate can be dipped- chicken, pizza, crackers, hot dog, sandwich...you name it.

Don't be fooled....I thought he liked dinos too.
He only wanted to play in the dirt. 

He can go potty in the big toilet now. So, if we are out and about and he needs to go, he's got no problem telling me and I just take him. We just recently went to the science museum and he was able to go twice! I was so impressed...I really thought I was going to have to change him at least once. Actually I did...but that was my fault......he accidentally wet his underwear while sitting down on the potty. And then, I forgot their potties flush by themselves, and since he wiggles a lot..it went off without him actually being done. So what does a mother do? I protected his little bum with my arm....so I got SPLASHED with toilet water at the science museum....YEAH. THAT'S RIGHT. Is anybody else grossed out? Because it took me a while to get over it too.....actually, I don't think I'm over it yet...Mommies are really unsung heroes. Don't ever forget that. I think I should write a funny book about our silly adventures hoping that maybe I will laugh about it in ten years.

Found him like this at 7am...he moved to the sofa

This past month, quite a few times actually, he has woken up at 5am. But he doesn't wake me up. Sometimes, he will turn on the light in Dom's room or sit on Dom's bed...waking HIM up. But he tells him to get off, and then Ethan goes away. He usually goes to find the IPAD in the living room and just sits there in the dark like a weirdo. Then falls asleep whenever, until I usually find him. I don't think that's a good thing. So, I hide the Ipad during the night now  and I go into their room and sleep next to Ethan to help him sleep during that awful time. I hate that he wakes up Dom...I mean it's bad enough he does't sleep and then whatever he does sleep is interrupted because little brother is done with it. But they don't want to sleep separate....so there's that issue too. We just need to rewire his brain to NOT go look for the ipad at 5 am.

He's so smart too. He figured out that he could use a truck as a stool....instead of an actual stool....that is already in the room. He's such a boy....risking arm and leg for no reason at all.

He has also found this laptop. Both my kids loved it at this age, but I think Ethan is a bit more obsessed with it. He likes numbers and letters way more than Dom ever did.  Keep growing kid!