This kid. This boy! Who is this?

You know you only have about 5 pictures before this happens and the toddler is begging for the camera.

Theo changes faster than I can keep track (2 years, 8 months now). I am constantly amazed by everything he can do, wants to do, refuses to do. Right now he loves stories. He could read his favorite book (Richard Scarry's Cars, Trucks, and Things That Go; also RS's Day at the Fire Station) forever. He reads after he should be napping, and reads in the dark after he should be sleeping at night. The other day I looked in the playroom and he was silently looking through books. It was one of the greatest things I've seen him do. Theo loves create his own narratives with his various toys--talking to himself and describing what they are doing. I love hearing him imagine and create, and I also love how independent he is now. Something Jon and I do on the drive home from church is tell stories--things from childhood (usually traumatic ones, like when I knocked out my front teeth), retelling favorite books, or his most requested of the moment, "Margot born?" He loves that one. Theo loves singing Jingle Bells, three blind mice, and reciting nursery rhymes. He can throw some amazing tantrums, but those usually happen most when he is overtired. He hasn't had a biggie in a while. He loves Margot, but spends most of his time gathering any toy within her reach that he doesn't want her to touch (that's just about everything). He loves playing with his cars and trains most of all--doesn't care too much about art projects unless I prod him to do it.

He still takes some solid naps, probably because he has started waking up around or before 5:00 and coming into our room, refusing to sleep anymore. We got him a timer and hooked that up to a lamp, and when the light comes on, he can get up (5:50 right now). It's only been a few days, but he has taken to the idea more than I thought he would. Which is good because when 6:00 am feels like you are majorly sleeping in, something's got to change.

Theo has also reached a stage where he can ramble on long phone conversations, and remember and repeat everything you say. I officially have to watch it. Like when I say to him, "Here's some, but these are the crappy scissors," and he repeats, "Oh, the crappy scissors." I can't handle how cute he is when he says "Truth or Consequences." He loves his dad so much--he usually cries when he leaves in the morning, and ignores me when he's around. He's also obsessed with Cadbury eggs. But who isn't?