Basque to the Future

Can you believe that it's been two years already? I am amazed every time I look at Simon how smart and funny he is, and he's only 2! Imagine how amazing he'll be in another 5 or even 10 years?

Here is a list of some of the things Simon is doing now, in no particular order.

He can identify most colors consistently. Sometimes he'll still say one wrong, but if you say 'that's not right, try again', he'll get it.
He can identify most letters of the alphabet by looking at the letter written down.
He can sing most of the alphabet song to you (or to his stuffed animals).
Can count to 11, though he usually ends with 8 still. It goes like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-7-8, 9, 10, 11, 8!
His favorite stuffed animals are 'puppy' aka Chili Dog and 'meow' aka Jelly Cat. He will talk to them, sing to them in the morning and tuck them in at night. He particularly loves puppy and likes to give him hugs and kisses and tell him secrets.
Favorite secret is to whisper ABCDEF to you. Then laugh uproariously.
He goes for walks without his stroller or a carrier pretty regularly. He can walk to Whole Foods, sit in the cart to shop and walk home no problem. Lots of reminders to hold hands and of course we are walking slowly.
He runs fast. Way faster than you'd think those little legs should go. In a short dash he is faster than I am.
Before he runs away from you, or before he does anything he knows he isn't supposed to do, he looks at you with a sly, impish face and pauses to think about what he's doing before deciding to do it.
He is totally in love with trains. Especially the CTA trains we see all the time. One of his favorite excursions is to take a train ride. To the loop, to the park, or even just back and forth - any destination so long as he gets to be on the train. Loves playing with his train table and trains, very commonly he will request 'Mama, Play trains with you?'.
He is very reasonable. If he is starting to tantrum you can get down on eye level with him and say 'don't cry, tell me what you want and we will see what we can do.' Then he (usually) will visibly take hold of himself, take a couple breaths and choke out what he wants in a pretty darn good impression of normal. When he is obviously trying so hard to talk to us and not cry there are very few things that I won't give in to, hope he doesn't figure that out any time soon.
When he whines, he will sometimes catch himself and look at you and say, 'no whine.'
He is walking up and down stairs mostly on his own, but we still strongly encourage holding the railing or a hand since wiping out is not uncommon. As long as he's paying attention he's fine, but he's very easily distracted on the way up or down.
He does not dress himself or put on his own shoes. He has made some moves that he is interested in trying, but he gives up after a second or two. Most interesting thing is attempting to put on socks, which he can get on his hands but not on his feet yet.
He colors well, can draw a recognizable circle but other shapes aren't quite there yet.
He talks constantly, can say everything we say. He speaks in full sentences and frequently ties a couple sentences together. He drops the connector words and sometimes we have to ask him to enunciate better for us to understand what he's saying. D's and T's sound similar and S's are a little slurred. In general anyone he speaks to can understand what he is saying.
Two common words he still has trouble with: he says 'agaig' instead of again, and 'goog' instead of good.
He is shy around strangers and usually whispers if he manages to say anything. If you encourage him to say it loudly he will though. (Like saying thank you to a waiter or teller or something.) He gets more comfortable with time and even from beginning of meal to the end you can tell the difference when talking to waiters/waitresses.
He is confident in his vocabulary and what he's trying to say. He'll correct you if you misunderstand him, repeating with emphasis or rephrasing until you figure it out.
Has weekly play dates with Kyla (3 years), Baby Kinsey (6 months) and Joanna (nanny). Those just ended because they are moving to the suburbs, but he loves them and will frequently be heard saying their names over and over quietly to himself.
Goes to bed at 6:30 pm, usually plays with/sings to his animals for 30 minutes and is asleep around 7pm. Wakes up around 6 am, but patiently waits for us to shower and get ready. We get him out of bed at 6:30am. He naps from 12-2. Though it isn't uncommon for him to nap longer if he's had a busy day, or (sadly) to skip naps on weekends when both parents are home and there is lots going on.
He eats well. We don't cut grapes, but do remind him to bite them in half. He needs only one reminder then does it for the rest of the meal. He will eat what we are eating, but refuses green leafy things (spinach, lettuce, broccoli, etc). Even picked the basil off of a piece of chicken - though Alan got him over that by having him do a taste test of basil and some other spices. Still doesn't like tomatoes. Loves yogurt, applesauce, fruit and any kind of cracker. Loves eating Kix or bagels for special breakfast. Also really enjoys peas, lima beans, corn, carrots, sweet potatoes, baking potatoes, any kind of cheese.
Drinks only milk and water, no juices.
Doesn't really eat processed sugar. Has Cheerios or Kix for cereal, will occasionally have part of a cookie or some ice cream if we are eating it around him. (And a cupcake for his birthday!)
Loves 'cooking' on his 2 step stool (aka "New Stool"). I give him a couple bowls and measuring spoons and some flour and he dumps and scoops and pours. He makes quite the floury mess, but is so happy it is worth it.
Loves being tickled. Will tickle you (usually from far away) by wiggling his fingers at you and saying 'kickle kickle!'. When you tickle him he'll laugh and say no! or all done! then when you stop he'll look at you and say in a plaintive tone: more?
He narrates what goes on around him a little. Saying things like 'mama laugh' or 'Jenn talk you'. I think he's just trying to keep a grip on what's going on around him when there are lots of adults around. Even when he's crying, he'll stop and look thoughtful and then say "Me cry" like he's a little surprised that's happening.
Doesn't quite have a grip on pronouns yet. He often refers to himself as 'you'. As in 'Pick up you.' That mostly happens with being held. He says "Holdju" when he wants to be picked up... I'm not sure he knows that it's not one word.
Has very limited screen time. If he is at the end of his rope we'll watch an episode of Blues Clues, Sesame Street or Yo Gabba Gabba, but it is once every few weeks. We do watch TV while cutting hair. Almost no game time on Phones/iPad, though he knows there are games on them and definitely asks.
He loves looking at pictures of himself. That's what he uses phones for most. Whenever he sees you taking pictures, after he poses ("CHEESE!") he'll say "me look?" and run over to check out the screen.
Skypes regularly with long distance family. So frequently that he doesn't realize all phones don't show picture. He will point the regular phone at things to show the person on the other end what he is talking about.
Cannot resist touching buttons. As a result we almost always hang up on whoever is on the other end of the phone if Simon's holding the phone.
He has really started using his imagination recently. He will pretend to pick up a character from a book and hold it and talk to it. Or help someone move the boxes in the book. Or have an imaginary puppy talking to him telling him jokes (which he totally fake laughs to).
One of his favorite games lately is "Pet Store", where we line up stuffed animals on the edge of a table and then use his toy shopping cart and a small shopping bag to pretend we're shopping for pets. He "beeps" them on the table to ring them up before putting them in the bag, and he always charges ten dollars. If the beeper gets broken and says 'boop' then he will fix it for you.
He is very patient about doing things he doesn't want to do. For example, the other day we went to the grocery store. When we got there, he looked at us and asked to go home and play. We said we had to shop. We were there for maybe 30 minutes and a couple times he reminded us he wanted to go home, but all in reasonable voices. We explained we were shopping for food to eat so couldn't leave yet. He was super good about it though was very happy to leave. You can only push him that way when he has slept well, his patience is much lower if he is tired.
Generally he is a lot of fun to be around. We laugh and play and really enjoy each other's company. He'll say things that he knows are silly to try and make us laugh.
Still really likes to read, but is particular about who is turning pages and who is holding the book. He will read on his own, but doesn't read out loud to you yet. When you ask him to read the book to you, sometimes he'll hold it up with the pages facing you and turn the pages for you.
He has many of his books memorized, so he'll finish the last word or two of each sentence if you pause to let him. He can sometimes do this even after only reading a book one or two times. Even when not reading, if you quote a line or two from a book that he's read before he'll get a big smile and tell you the name of the book that it's from.
We started and will tell Simon's Story pretty regularly at night before bed. It is the story of what Simon did that day, which he helps me tell since most days I am not with him all day. He has been getting more and more helpful with it the past couple months.
Loves being told the stories of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the Three Little Pigs.
Will give great hugs. Sometimes he'll run from across the room and throw himself into your arms and give you a huge hug. So wonderful.
Will usually still run into someone's arms when he hears someone on the steps, in an excited 'who's coming?' sort of way. He does it less frequently though and I feel like it might end soon.
Sits in a booster seat on a chair at home and in a high chair at restaurants. He is a little too short to not have a booster and a little too easily distracted to not be buckled in.
Thankfully cannot unbuckle yet, though is a rock star at buckling. He understands how to unbuckle, he just can't quite get his hands to do it right yet - or maybe he doesn't have the grip yet.
No pacifier and no thumbs. We're all done with the suckling stage. He sometimes asks about his "paci" and we ask him where it went so he remembers that he put it in the trash.
Knows he has a little sister in Mama's belly. That she will be a baby and that babies cry and that's ok.
Loves water, especially scooping and dumping it. We haven't gone swimming yet this year, but play outside in the little wading pool on a regular basis.
Really getting into climbing at the park, and still loves to swing.
Learning how to throw a ball. Doesn't always go the direction he wants but he's got quite an arm! Also learning to catch, he's getting it about half the time, which is my rate too.
He is getting much more independent and likes to do things on his own, including happily playing by himself for 30 min or more.
Loves to be included in things and feel helpful. If you ask him to come help you with something he'll almost always come running over, and seems really proud when you tell him afterwards how big of a help he was.
He's getting pretty good with manners. He still often needs to be prompted to say Please (he understands what you mean when you say "How do you ask nicely?") and Thank You, but he's starting to say it on his own sometimes too.
Says "Bless you" when you sneeze.