Good Job Mom, You Did It!

I officially don't want Ari to get any older. 2.7 years old is treating us really well these days. Now that were off diapers and Ari's communicating like a champ I feel like we have a really good thing going. The communication factor is the key, it's like a whole new world. Allow me to share the following examples.

Personal Cheerleader. Whenever I do anything praise worthy like vacuum, eat my dinner, get a toy working, use the potty, make food, etc. I receive an abundance of praise. Ari yells out "good job Mom, you did it" and claps and cheers. It's awesome. He's also quick to say sorry even if he THINKS he may have hurt you; he apologizes and makes sure you know he didn't mean too...of course if he did mean to hurt you that's another story...

Imagination. Ari plays make believe out loud now; I like to sit in the other room and listen to his trucks talk to each other about driving up hills, drinking milk, seeing sheep, going to the store, etc. Ari is still talking to "Guy" who I'm assuming is sort of like an imaginary friend.

He Knows What he Wants. When asked what Ari wants to do he's got all sorts of suggestions, he usually wants to go to one of the following: Smiths, The Toy Store, Gump's, Nonie's, Cora's, DI, Hiking, Zoo, Watch Diggers, walk around the block or watch videos of Ari.

Comic Relief. He's such a happy kid that it's somewhat contagious. If your feeling a little grumpy Ari can tell and will crack a joke like "Hi, I'm Mom" and laugh at himself until you laugh too. He's also comic relief when he doesn't mean to be, for example the other day Joe was on the floor trying to pop his back, Ari walked by and said "whats Dad doin, you streatchin your bum Dad?" He's constantly coming up with random comments.

Kid Dreams. It's been interesting to here what Ari dreams about. Most recently he's woken up with two different nightmares. One is that clocks are chasing him (for awhile we had to keep the clock in his room covered); the other is that there was a big birthday party going on in his room. This was considered a nightmare only because when he woke up and realized the party (including all the people, cake and presents) were gone, he was devastated.

Singing. He knows a lot of songs and can belt them out getting at least 65% of the words right (I've been trying to video this but he's a little camera shy and I'm apparently not very sneaky).

I'm Happy. Sometimes we'll just be walking around the block, riding bikes, or playing in the sandbox and Ari will look up at me and say "I'm Happy." Always makes me happy too.

It's hard to believe we'll be adding another person to the mix, we will be throwing off the balance of our lives that took 2.5 years to accomplish. Hopefully returning to some form of normalcy will not take as long this time; now that we at least have A FEW things figured out?

Photos courtesy of me video chatting with Joe and Ari from across the house.

.